Bauhinia variegata or Bauhinia purpurea?

[M Farooq]

Can someone identify this particular species of Bauhinia? I lately ordered the seeds and later they mentioned that the seeds may be or white/ or red variety because this purple one is not that common (attached picture from the web). The flowers are essentially like orchids. I have seen only one surviving tree in Karachi of this species.

The rest of Bauhinias which are commonly available (also common on Islamabad streerts) is aslo called Bauhinia purpurea. The link is here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bauhi ... purea2.JPG

How come the Bauhinia purpurea are so different in petal shape?

[seedtree]

Bauhinia_variegata_flower.jpg (87.23 KiB) Viewed 5140 times

We plant both these Bauhinia in Nepal, where they are used for fodder and human food also. I have written one of our district managers there, (whose wife I have seen collect the buds for a prized condiment/pickle) who replies that the photo you have shown is variegata. Oddly we find even "authoritive" sources seem to confuse these species, and even one of our agro-forestry texts shows identifies pupurea with the local name used for variegata and does not mention the latter. As I recall, variegata also has a more pronounced cleft in the leaf. Hope this helps.

[khawarissslam]

Salam, Bauhinia variegata ko kachnaar b kaha jata hai, kia koi member bata sakta hai k iss plant k phool cooking main use hotay hain tau ye phool kab deta hai?

[Izhar]

It blooms in spring

[aykhan]

I love bauhinia also. Yes you picture is variegata. I am growing variegata 'alba' from seed. Some of the rarer bauhinias are quite hard to find.