Eden

Penang Botanic Gardens Plant Collection

Amherstia nobilis Wall. (FABACEAE)

Posted at — Nov 13, 2019
Pride of Burma, Noble Amherstia

Description

Evergreen tree to 10-15 m tall, branched trunk with rounded crown and gentle weeping branches. Leaves pinnately compound without terminal leaflets, 14-34 cm long, each leaf with c. 6-8 leaflets, young leaves pendent and pinkish coppery coloured. Inflorescence on terminal pendulous racemes with 20-26 flowers. Flowers with 5 petals, asymmetric, red to crimson with the largest petal erect with yellow patch at the apex. The pod is flattened and woody, red with pale yellow patches ripening brown, 11-20 cm long.


Ecology

Lowland, monsoon teak forest on calcareous soil.

Distribution

It is a monotypic genus, native in Myanmar, very rare in the wild.

Uses

Tree with one of the most attractive flowers. Seeds are often hard to obtain, so not as widely planted as expected.