Fire-flame bush
Woodfordia fruticosa
Family: Lythraceae
What it is like
Fire-flame bush, Woodfordia fruticosa, is a well-branched tropical shrub growing up to 5-7 m in height with a reddish-brown bark that peels off in strips. It is endemic to India. New shoots and leaves have black dots and circles of glands. The leaves are simple, covered with white hairs, and opposite or in rings of three. The flowers are in clusters of up to 17 on short shoots in the axils of leaves. Individual flowers are large and red-orange. The fruits are dry irregular capsules containing many smooth, small, brown seeds. The plant has medicinal uses and is used in the treatment of dysentery and menorrhagia, and as an astringent. The flowers are eaten as food and used in the preparation of a cooling drink. The plant yields a gum and the flowers and leaves contain tannins. The flowers also yield a dye. The wood is used for fuel. Plants are tolerant to frosts and coppices well.
Woodfordia fruticosa is an evergreen Shrub growing to 5 m (16ft) by 5 m (16ft) at a medium rate. See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 10. Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, prefers well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. Suitable pH: mildly acid, neutral and basic (mildly alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers moist soil. The plant can tolerates strong winds but not maritime exposure.
Height (m): 5
Where it is found
Habitat Open, sunny places, often on disturbed soils and on old agricultural land. Open waste land and degraded places.
East Africa - Tanzania, Madagascar; E. Asia - Indian subcontinent, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Indones
Conservation Status: Status: Lower Risk/least concern
Countries/locations it is found in
Africa, Asia, Bhutan, Burma, China, East Africa, Himalayas, India, Indonesia, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, SE Asia, Sri Lanka, Thailand,
How it is used
Food
Rating: 2
The flowers are eaten as food and used in the preparation of a cooling drink. (This report was a little unclear, and might have referred to the leaves.)
Drink: not including plant saps, tea or coffee substitutes.
Gum: can be chewed as a chewing gum or can often be used as a sweetener or thickening agent in foods.
Medicine
Rating: 2
The flowers are astringent. They are used in the treatment of dysentery, traditionally being beaten up with honey into a kind of confection. They are also thought to be of use in treating menorrhagia The flowers are used externally as an astringent.
Antidiarrhoeal: Provides symptomatic relief for diarrhoea. Also see Astringent.
Astringent: Produces contraction in living tissue, reducing the flow of secretions and discharges of blood, mucus, diarrhoea etc.
Dysentery: Used in treating dysentery - an infection of the intestines that causes diarrhoea containing blood or mucus.
Other
Rating: 4
Agroforestry Uses: This is a common gregarious shrub which springs up naturally on landslips, abandoned cultivation, and other open places, killing out grass, binding the soil together and acting as a useful soil-improver and a most efficient nurse to tree species, including sal, which come up freely under its protective cover. It is unable to regenerate by seed in shady places so, as the trees grow larger this species gradually dies out. It is not eaten by cattle, and is frost-hardy, and thus appears often in extensive pure masses on open ground subject to grazing. Other Uses A gum is obtained from the plant. It is similar to gum tragacanth. The flowers contain about 20% tannins. They are harvested when open and then dried for later use. When being used for their tannins, the leaves are employed more commonly than the flowers, simply because they are available in greater quantity. A dye is obtained from the flowers. It can be used on its own or combined with other dyes where they also act as a mordant. They are most commonly combined with Morinda citrifolia. The wood is used for fuel.
Dye: Plants that provide dyes.
Fuel: Usually wood, plant materials that have been mentioned as being a good fuel.
Gum: Gums have a wide range of uses, especially as stabilizers, emulsifiers, thickening agents, adhesives etc.
Mordant: Used for making a dye more permanent, it also affects the colour of the dye.
Soil conditioner: Plants grown to improve the structure of the soil. See also Green manures.
Soil stabilization: Plants that can be grown in places such as sand dunes in order to prevent erosion by wind, water or other agents.
Tannin: An astringent substance obtaied from plants, it is used medicinally, as a dye and mordant, stabilizer in pesticide etc.
Coppice: A traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down.
Food Forest: Plants for Edible Forest Gardens and Food Forests.
How it is grown
Plants are frost tolerant. Requires a sunny position. Succeeds in any well-drained soil. Plants are very wind tolerant. The plant coppices well; coppice-shoots five years old averaged 3 metres in height.
Propagating it: The seed is minute - the plant self-sows freely in open, well-drained ground but can be more difficult in a nursery situation. The most successful way in which to grow the plant artificially is to sow the seeds in broken bricks; on ordinary seed-beds it is very difficult to obtain germination and to raise seedlings. If sowing the seed in a nursery bed, the soil should be light and very well-drained and the position should be fairly sunny. Scatter the seed over the surface and just lightly push it into the soil - do not cover it. Water the seed gently, being careful not to wash it away, and water once or twice a day if the soil looks like it is drying out. Softwood cuttings. They are said to be easy. Hardwood cuttings. They are said to be easy.
Best place to grow:
Habit: Shrub
Hardiness: 10-12
Growth: Medium
Soil: Light (sandy), medium, heavy (clay)
Shade: No shade
Moisture: Moist
Things to keep in mind
Its other names
Local names
Agnijwala, Dahai, Dawai, Dawi, Dhai-phul, Dhai, Dhaiphal, Dhangera, Dhataki, Dhaula, Dhaura, Dhavdi, Dhawi, Dhayti, Dhenti, Gaddaisinka, Gul bahar, Gul, Harwari, Icha, Jargi, Jatiko, Lambohenza, Phuldawai, Phulsatti, Santha, Serinji, Shiranjitea, Tamrapushpi, Tawi, Thai, Thawi, Zhubuli, aarl puruvu, anare phul, bahupuspi, bajhiya, birukanda, chenchev, chyuhuwa, daring, davi, dha-ta-ki, dhai, dhainra, dhaiphool, dhaiphul, dhaiphula, dhanyar, dhanyaro, dhataki, dhathaki, dhauli, dhava, dhavadi, dhavadiphool, dhavani, dhavati, dhaya, dhayaro, dhayati, dhataki (flower), fire flame bush, fire-flame bush, fire-flame bush|malitha, fire-flame-bush, ghayaro, jamjasa, kattathi, kattati, kattattipoo, phul dhava, sano dhayaro, shiranji tea, shiranji-tea, syakte, tamrapushpi, tatire, tattiripuvu, tamrapu?pi, vahnijvala, woodfordia.
Synonyms
Grislea punctata Buch.-Ham. ex Sm. Grislea tomentosa Roxb. Lythrum fruticosum L. Lythrum hunteri DC.