Asopalav Tree

Polyalthia longifolia

''Polyalthia longifolia'' is a lofty evergreen tree, native to India, commonly planted due to its effectiveness in alleviating noise pollution. It exhibits symmetrical pyramidal growth with willowy weeping pendulous branches and long narrow lanceolate leaves with undulate margins. The tree is known to grow over 30 ft in height.

Polyalthia longifolia is sometimes incorrectly identified as the Ashoka tree because of the close resemblance of both trees.

One might mistake it as a tree with effectively no branches, but in fact a Polyalthia allowed to grow naturally grows into a normal large tree with plenty of shade.
Asopalav Tree (Polyalthia longifolia), Kandy, Sri Lanka Asia,Asopalav Tree,Kandy,Polyalthia longifolia,Sri Lanka

Naming

Polyalthia longifolia's common names include False Ashoka, the Buddha Tree, Indian mast tree, and Indian Fir tree. Its names in other languages include ''Ashoka'' in Sanskrit, ''Debdaru'' in Bengali and Hindi, ''Asopalav'' , ''Glodogan tiang'' , ''Ashok'' in Marathi and ''Nettilinkam'' நெட்டிலிங்கம் in Tamil, and ''araNamaram'': അരണമരം .
There are two important traditions associated with the tree in India , one being of Sita taking shelter in the shade of Ashoka when in captivity and another that of the Ashoka tree requiring a kick from a beautiful woman on spring festival day before it would bloom . However, these associations are linked to the real Ashoka tree not the false Ashoka tree .

Distribution

Found natively in India and Sri Lanka. It is introduced in gardens in many tropical countries around the world. It is, for example, widely used in parts of Jakarta in Indonesia.

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Taxonomy
KingdomPlantae
DivisionAngiosperms
ClassEudicots
OrderMagnoliales
FamilyAnnonaceae
GenusPolyalthia
SpeciesP. longifolia
Photographed in
Sri Lanka