With the gradual advent of the rainy season this year, Burflower, popularly known as kadam flowers, have also started appearing in the branches of kadam trees all across the country. Seasonally, the flower arrives on the tree-branches during the rainy months and continues to bloom throughout the season.
In the capital, a number of kadam trees can be found at Baridhara Park beside the Banani Lake. They are mature evergreen trees, tall and erect, with neat, well-trimmed branches growing horizontally from the trunk. The leaves, perhaps six inches long, are thick and dark green. Whenever one walks beside the trees, he or she is sure to get the sweet fragrance of its flowers.
Together with the other tall trees of the park, they create a bucolic environment in this small corner of our busy city. Kadam is a large tree and is sometimes planted sacredly near temples. It is one of the important medicinal plants belonging to the Rubiaceae family and is native to South and Southeast Asia. It is widely found in different parts of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Australia.
The tree can reach up to 45 metre in height. It is a large tree with a broad crown and straight cylindrical bole. It is quick growing, with broad spreading branches and grows rapidly in the first 6–8 years. The trunk has a diameter of 100–160 cm, but typically less than that. Bark is dark grey in color, rough and frequently longitudinally fissured, exfoliating in thin scales. Leaves are glossy green, opposite, simple more or less sessile to petiolate, ovate to elliptical, 30 cm long 10-15 cm broad with prominent veins.
Flowering usually begins when the tree is 4–5 years old. The fragrance attracts many insects including bees which converge on the flower and help with pollination. Later, as the kadam ripens, the birds come to feast on it. Among these are bulbuls and the black-hooded oriole which peck at the flower making a delightful mess, like an infant eating porridge for the first time.