Common name(s): Indian Cork Tree, Tree Jasmine
Scientific name: Millingtonia hortensis
Description
Indian Cork Tree is cultivated in most parts of India, both in gardens and avenues. Tall and straight, with comparatively few branches, its popularity lies in its ornamental value. It is a fine tree, fast-growing, but with brittle wood, liable to be damaged by storms. In favorable positions, it can grow to 24 m tall. The ashy bark is cracked and furrowed and the numerous fissures make removal of the cork an easy matter. It is used as an inferior substitute for true cork. From April until the rains and again in November and December, a profusion of silvery-white, delightfully fragrant flowers crown the foliage. Upright open clusters with arching blooms terminate every branchlet. Each flower is a tiny bell-shaped calyx, a long slender tube of palest green dividing into four waxy, white petals and several conspicuous yellow anthers stamens. Many flowers are delicately tinted with rose. As the flowers are short-lived, the flower sprays mostly consist largely of long whitish buds, while the ground below is spangled with innumerable little stars. Between January and March, the leaves are shed and renewed during April and May, although the tree is never quite naked. The long leaves bear two or three widely spaced pinnae, each with five or seven smooth leaflets, oval, pointed, and slightly round-toothed. Each is from 2.5 to 7.5 cm. long. Sometimes the lower pinnae, are again divided and bear one pair of three-leaved pinnae, one or two pairs of leaflets, and one leaflet at the end. The fruit is very long and narrow, pointed at both ends, and contains thin flat seeds. Trees do not seed very easily in India. The long, fragrant flowers are commonly woven into an ornamental braid called Veni in Maharashtra.
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Millingtonia Hortensis Plant care and instructions
This fast-growing tree flowers at night and sheds flowers early in the morning. The name Millingtonia comes from Thomas Millington, an English botanist, while hortensis means "grown in gardens". The tree is my favorite garden tree. It is also called the Cork Tree, as an inferior cork is processed from its corky bark. Place plants in full sun in average, well-drained soil. Drainage is important; don t place where roots will sit in water. Leaves develop the best flavor in full sun.
Light - Full to partial sunlight.
Place - Balcony, terrace, or outdoors
Water - Medium, avoid sprinkling water on flowers.
Fertilizer - Any organic fertilizer
Temperature - 25°C
Special Features
Extract of the leaves of Millingtonia hortensis has good antimicrobial activity. The leaves of Millingtonia hortensis are used as antipyretic, sinusitis, cholagogue, and tonic in folklore medicine. Used as yellow dyes. Flower buds are used in the treatment of asthma, sinusitis, cholagogue, and tonic.
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