I had gone to my cousin’s house, and on the way back a tree I did not recognise caught my eye. So the next day, which was the day before yesterday, I set out early in the morning to go and meet it. It felt a little odd, because there was nobody to take along, not even my brother Zaman. I had to go alone. Even so, the time passed well.
Palash, shimul and tropical almond
First I took the Hatirjheel circular bus from Rampura bridge and got off at the very last stop, and from there I began walking the whole length of it, looking at everything as I went. The first ones I met were palash, the flame of the forest, and shimul, the red silk cotton tree, and after them the tropical almond, our kathbadam. The almond trees were covered in flower from top to bottom, and they were a pleasure to look at. As I went on along the footpath I found a good number of mahogany trees along the edge of the water, with wild date palms among them. The other trees that catch the eye here are the hijal, and now and then a mahua.
A kingdom of yellow and lollipop jhau
A little further on, the one spreading its yellow everywhere was the ranichura, Senna polyphylla. Oh, and radhachura, the peacock flower, is present in plenty of places here too. Then came a flyover. Along its edges the lollipop shapes of jhau trees stretched all the way to the far end, with bougainvillea tucked in between them. After that began the play of kamini, the orange jasmine, and kanchan, the orchid tree, with debkanchan alongside. It was fun to see them turn up one after another. The frangipani, kathgolap, Plumeria obtusa, in its various forms caught my eye as well.
Sparks of fire and clusters of oranges
A bit further on, another flyover. Around it there was nothing but bottlebrush and more bottlebrush. Every tree had flowered well, and it looked as though sparks of fire had been splashed over them. And here the fruits of the kantamehedi, the golden dewdrop, truly charmed me, because never in my life had I seen its fruit like this. At first I thought the bushes were hanging with bunches of ripe oranges.
A small disappointment at the far end
But at the far end came yet another flyover, and at first I was a little disheartened. I saw that some kanchan trees and some bottlebrush trees had been planted very close together, one after the other. Seeing the white flowers of the kanchan right next to the leaves of the bottlebrush, I must have imagined that day that I had seen a new tree. My heart really did sink a little, because after an hour of walking, tired out, the thing I had wanted, the thing I had come hoping to see, did not exist. Still, there was nothing to despair about, I had enjoyed every bit of it. No, no, it is not over yet. There is still something left.
I had not seen wrong
On the way back, right beside the flyover, my eye suddenly fell on the very trees I had seen the other day. The tree looks like a bottlebrush, with white flowers hanging in clusters. I took photo after photo of it. Seeing me at it, a passer-by actually stopped to ask, brother, what is the name of that tree? I could not even tell him the name, which was a little embarrassing for me. But yes, at that moment the tree seemed enormously precious to me, because it kept reminding me that my guess had been right. I had not seen wrong that day.
Anyway, by the time I got near Police Plaza I was so tired that I had no choice but to get back on the circular bus and return to the Rampura bridge stop. I was heading home, but what can you do, on the way I had noticed some bandarlathi trees, Cassia grandis, near the stop. Bit by bit, very slowly, I made my way over to them, took a few photos and came home. As for the hero of this trip, the one I had gone to Hatirjheel for that day, I got his identity from our respected Jasim sir. I had given him some photos, and it was he who put a name to it: Callistemon pallidus (Bonpl.) DC.
The plants I met that day
- Palash, flame of the forest, Butea monosperma
- Shimul, red silk cotton tree, Bombax ceiba
- Kathbadam, tropical almond, Terminalia catappa
- Hijal, freshwater mangrove, Barringtonia acutangula
- Ranichura, Senna polyphylla
- Khejur, wild date palm, Phoenix sylvestris
- Baganbilash, bougainvillea, Bougainvillea spectabilis
- Shwet shimul, kapok, Ceiba pentandra
- Kamini, orange jasmine, Murraya paniculata
- Shwet raktakanchan, white orchid tree, Bauhinia variegata var. candida
- Debkanchan, purple orchid tree, Bauhinia purpurea
- Bottlebrush, Callistemon citrinus
- Kantamehedi, golden dewdrop, Duranta repens
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