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Malabar Orchid

Piliostigma malabaricum

Also called Malabar Bauhinia, Mountain Ebony

Malabar Orchid
Photo: Dinesh Valke from Thane, India, CC BY-SA 2.0
Family
Fabaceae (Pea & bean family)
Grows as
Tree, Orchid
Native range
Trop. Asia to N. Australia
Climate
seasonally dry tropical

About

Piliostigma malabaricum is a small (sometimes ornamental) tree species in the family Fabaceae. It was previously placed in the genus Bauhinia, but names changed with reorganisation of the subfamily Cercidoideae and the tribe Bauhinieae.

This species is native to Tropical Asia and N. Australia; it has been called the "Purple Orchid Tree" (although not to be confused with Bauhinia purpurea or Bauhinia variegata) and names in Vietnamese are: chân trâu and móng bò tai voi. There are no intraspecific names according to Plants of the World Online.

Other Piliostigma plants

Piliostigma thonningii · Camel's Foot · Piliostigma

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Piliostigma malabaricum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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