When the City goes pink

When the City goes pink
Michael Patrao
Jaipur may be the Pink City, but come December, Bangalore temporarily becomes the "pink" city with the blossoming of the Tabebuia Rosea tree.

You can find this tree, bereft of leaves, in many parts of the City — M G Road and the Mahatma Gandhi Park, Cubbon Road, Minsk Square, Cubbon Park, in front of the Government Museum on Kasturba Road, in the vicinity of the Vidhana Soudha and High Court, Basaveshwara Circle, Jnanabharati campus of Bangalore University, Indian Institute of Science campus.

Belonging to the Bignoniaceae family, they are also called the New World Trumpet trees, Pink Poui, Pink tecoma and Rosy trumpet tree. In the Cubbon Park and in other spacious surroundings, where the tree sheds its flowers, it creates an ethereal carpet and resembles a Zen garden of Japan.

The blossoming of Tabebuia Rosea and other flowering trees of Bangalore is what perhaps Bangaloreans and visitors to Bangalore sub-consciously love about the City.

The late T P Isaar, former Chief Secretary, in his book, “Blossom City” gives elaborate details of this species of tree. He notes that 10 species of the tree are acclimatised in Bangalore. The European curators of Lalbagh, William New and John Cameron, introduced them here as exotic flowering trees in the late 19th century.

S G Neginhal, who retired from Indian Forest Service, in his book “Gold trees, green spaces and urban forestry” gives a botanical description of Tabebuia rosea: “It is a large tall-growing, semi-evergreen tree, attaining large-size in wetter loamy soil. It is native to Mexico, Venezuela and Ecuador. Leaves are compound, with 3 to 5 leaflets, which vary in size and shape from elliptic to oblong. Leaflets are taper-pointed (acuminate); and have long stalks. Flowers are bell-shaped, rose-pink in colour. Colour of the flowers also varies from rose-pink to pale rose. Flowers drape the whole crown, when the tree is leafless (December to March). The inflorescence lasts hardly a month, and the new leaves appear to cover the flowers. The tree bears fruits from March to May. Seeds are papery and disseminated by winds. The tree is planted in avenues and parks for ornament and shade. Propagation is easy by fresh seeds.