Bauhinia variegata — A Botanical Portrait of Kovidar

Scientific classification

• Kingdom: Plantae
• Clade: Angiosperms · Eudicots · Rosids
• Order: Fabales
• Family: Fabaceae (legumes)
• Genus: Bauhinia
• Species: B. variegata

Morphology

A medium-sized deciduous tree, 10–12 m tall, with a short crooked trunk and a wide, spreading crown. The bark is a pale grey with shallow fissures. The leaves are the tree's signature — bilobed, heart-shaped at the base, cleft deeply at the tip so that each leaf resembles two leaflets fused at a spine. This form has earned the tree its popular English name, the camel's foot tree.

Flowering & seasonality

Kovidar flowers between February and April across much of the Indian subcontinent, shedding most of its leaves before flowering. The blossoms are large — up to 10 cm across — with five broad petals in shades of pink, magenta, lavender and, in the rarer B. variegata var. candida, pure white. The fragrance is gentle, slightly sweet.

Ecological role

As a legume, Kovidar fixes atmospheric nitrogen through root nodules, quietly enriching the soils in which it grows. Its blossoms are an important early-season resource for native bees, sunbirds and butterflies. The pods ripen in the hot pre-monsoon weeks, splitting with a soft crack to scatter flat brown seeds.