Saraca Species, Ashoka Tree, Red Saraca, Sorrowless Tree

There seems to be some differences in the leaf shape, my small tree in Florida looks much different from the Hawiian specimen.
It...Read More's fairly easy to grow, and made it through its first winter here in zone 10b with no damage.

This is a beautiful tree and revered in India as the 'Sita Ashok'--has many references in ancient medical and historical literature. Ener...Read Moregy-wise this tree is protective against negative environmental influences and reputed to protect against ill-fortune, astral attacks (spirits etc). I am growing these at my country home in New Delhi India, and as yet they are small plants.

A detailed reference as given by Pankaj Oudha on Botanical.com informs us that : "Saraca indica syn. Saraca asoca, Jonesia asoca) is Caesalpiniaceae. It is small evergreen tree having height upto ten meters, with blackish bark and reddish-brown wood; Leaves paripinnate, stipules intra-petioler, united, scarious; leaflets 4-6 pairs, oblong, lanceolate, glabrous, lateral nerves 8-12 pairs; flowers orange to scarlet, in dense corymbose panicles; Calyx yellowish orange to scarlet, petaloid, cylindric, four lobed; Petals absent; Pods tapering at both ends, seeds 4-8 ellipsoid- oblong. Flowering time December to May and fruiting time June-July (in Chhattisgarh conditions). Sita Ashok holds a reputed position as medicine in reference literatures related to different systems of medicine in India. As medicine, bark, flower and seeds are used. According to Ayurveda, bark is acrid, refrigerant, astringent to bowels, alterative, anthelmintic, demulcent and emollient. It is used in treatment of dyspepsia, thirst, burning sensation, blood disorders, biliousness, tumours, colic, piles, ulcers, menorrhagia etc. The natives and traditional healers of Chhattisgarh use Sita Ashok mainly in treatment of gynaecological disorders. I am describing some popular traditional uses. In general it is considered as best female tonic. (etc..) "
The bark of the tree is recommended as anti-infective, as a memory tonic and particularly useful against mental disorders. Clairvoyantly and psychicly we see that mental disorders arise from 'infection' at the life-energy (aura) level where the pitiutary, hypothalumus and pineal glands are compromised by the equivalent of germ/virus infection at the energy level. This leaves the individual prone to attack by intelligent parasitical viral or germ-like entities where then behavioural changes take place along with chemical imbalances being medically diagnosed as schizophrenia and multiple personality disorders. Saraca Indica is considered a great healer for these and other conditions.

Native to India and Thailand