Yellow Flame Tree

It's mid-April 2010 and the temperature in Mumbai peaks at a hot 33 degrees Celsius these days. It hasn't rained since January. Despite the heat, the Yellow Flame tree (botanical name: peltophorum pterocarpum) chooses to exult in this season with a blossom of yellow flowers. The tree, also known as the Copperpod, seems to tap into some enviable hidden reserve of energy and come into bloom. At this time of the year here in south Mumbai, Yellow Flame trees appear to be in full or late bloom and some have shed their coat of flowers and taken on a copper-red hue from their seed-pods and bare branch tips.

A fair number exist in this part of Mumbai. Yesterday on the way home from work a colleague and I counted a dozen Yellow Flame trees in bloom on a stretch of road about a kilometer long, to the east of the CST railway station. It's heartening to see such a number in a city short of trees. Later, I noticed Yellow Flame trees in bloom besides some prominent buildings and landmarks of this area such as the Mumbai Police Headquarters, the Museum, the University of Science Building and the Lions Gate and have taken some pictures.

^Leaves

I find it interesting that had a friend and I not decided to post pictures of such summer nature delights on the Net, I may not have noticed how often one comes across the tree. It’s as if the tree is taken for granted. Does the fact that its flowers grow at the very top of the tree and are difficult to get close to, have something to do with it?

The Yellow Flame grows to become a large shady tree with dark green foliage. It's a welcome sight. After its flowers are shed copper-red coloured pods take their place on the tree's foliage. Fallen flowers form an eye-catching yellow carpet at the foot of the tree and the bare branch tips and copper pods form a copper-brown haze atop the green foliage.

Its flower and leaf are beautiful, similar in structure to the Gulmohar's. The Yellow Flame tree flower is smaller, yellow and the petals are crinkled and closer together than the red Gulmohar’s. Each flower has five petals, thin at the base and fanned out on top with well-formed anthers. Its leaf shares the fern like structure of the Gulmohar leaf however each individual leaf is slightly larger than Gulmohar’s. Indeed another name for the tree is the Yellow Gulmohar.

^{Yellow Flame Tree at the Lions Gate and with a Taj backdrop}

Is it more commonly known as the Copperpod? I believe amongst its names, the name Yellow Flame does it greatest justice by identifying it with its most distinctive characteristic –its blossom of yellow flowers. The copper colour is relatively mild. The name Yellow Gulmohar does not distinguish it sufficiently from the Gulmohar. This is just one opinion.

I understand the tree can be grown from the seed contained in the pod.

By some accounts the tree is a native of Celyon and South Asia. And it is commonly found across India. Recently, on a trip to Vadodara, I spotted a Coppersmith, a little green bird slightly larger than a sparrow, make a nest in a hollow, in a Yellow Flame tree. I'd seen the Coppersmith visit the tree in a neighbouring building quite often. However, this was my first ever sighting of a Coppersmith nest and as it turned out it was in a, well, Copperpod! Quite delightful.

^{Yellow Flame Tree besides CST Railway Station}

^{Yellow Flame Tree seeds and a seed pod}

Here are a few other links about the Yellow Flame tree that you may enjoyed reading:

https://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/05/20/stories/2004052001530200.htm.
https://www.sriaurobindosociety.org.in/flrarch/flrmay00.htm
https://jamesmissier.blogspot.com/2010/04/copper-pod-tree-peltophorum-pterocarpum.html

For more on caring for trees do visit our website at: csr.firstlight.in.

^{Author: Ruchir Bansal}
^{Updated: April 25, 2010}

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Topic: Yellow Flame Tree

Subject: Trees

Yellow Flame Tree