Saraca asoca, Saraca indica

The soil in the triangle between the A classroom building, the B classroom building, and the north faculty office has killed off six Cananga odorata trees. Even the grass struggles to grow in the top soil free red clay. Thus the success of Saraca asoca is a pleasant and fragrant surprise.
Native to India, the tree is known as the Ashoka tree and is used in traditional ethnobotanical medicines. The bark apparently contains an estrogenic ketosterol compound. The bark is also the active ingredient in a number of gynecological medicines. 


Scientific classification
Kingdom:  Plantae
(unranked):  Angiosperms
(unranked):  Eudicots
(unranked):  Rosids
Order:          Fabales
Family:  Fabaceae
Genus:          Saraca
Species:  S. asoca
Binomial name:  Saraca asoca (Roxb.) Wilde
Synonyms:       Saraca indica Linnaeus

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