Purple orchid tree
ಬಸವನ ಪಾದकचनारமந்தாரை
Bauhinia purpurea L.
- light
- Sun–part
- water
- Little
- tall
- 9.9 m
- wide
- 9.9 m
Fabaceae
Also called Orchid Tree, Pink Butterfly Tree, Purple Camel's Foot, Butterfly Orchid Tree, Butterfly tree
Formerly Bauhinia castrata, Bauhinia coromandeliana, Bauhinia kurzii, Bauhinia triandra, and 6 more
When it flowers
Flowers October to February in the tropics.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Shrub or treeKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- Seasonally dry tropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Indian Subcontinent to MyanmarKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun to part shade (3 h or more)Read from UF/IFAS, one source
- Height
- 9.1 m to 11 mRead from UF/IFAS, one source
- Spread
- 9.1 m to 11 mRead from UF/IFAS, one source
- Water
- Little: takes droughtRead from UF/IFAS, one source
- Flowers
- Pink, purple, violetRead from UF/IFAS, one source
- Coldest it survives
- -3.9 °C (USDA zone 9b)Read from UF/IFAS, one source
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
Grow it with
Suggested by a rule, not by a gardener: same climate (kew), flowering when this plant does not (inaturalist), and a different shape.
Apple-of-PeruFlowers March to September, when this does not
Arabian jasmineFlowers March to September, when this does not
Barbados lilyFlowers March to September, when this does not
Billygoat weedFlowers March to September, when this does not
Black-eyed Susan vineFlowers March to September, when this does not
Blue dazeFlowers March to September, when this does not
In other languages (12)
- Spanish
- Pata de vaca, Urape, Orquídea de árbol
- Chinese
- 洋紫荊, 紅花羊蹄甲, 紫羊蹄甲
- Arabic
- شجرة الأوركيد, شجرة الفراشة الزهرية, بوهينيا بنفسجية
- Japanese
- ムラサキソシンカ
- Chinese (China)
- 羊蹄甲
- Afrikaans
- Skoenlapperorgideeboom
- Thai
- ชงโค
- Russian
- Баугиния пурпурная
- Indonesian
- Bunga Kupu-kupu
- Portuguese
- Pata-de-vaca
- French
- Arbre aux orchidées
- Swedish
- purpurbauhinia
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-26, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- UF/IFAS, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-24, CC BY-SA 3.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Bauhinia purpurea (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.