Pongamia Species, Indian Beech, Mullikulam Tree, Pongam Oil Tree

This not a comment but a question. I want to ask if the flower's fragrance is strong as my mother has asthma so is this tree preferable? ...Read MoreI live in india.

I have 2 of these trees in my yard and it is grown in abundance all around Wellington, FL; specifically, in my neighborhood. It is a nice...Read More shade tree with interesting trunks and shapes. However, I would not recommend this tree anywhere near driveways or structures. The root system is widespreading on top of the ground. The builder put these trees in back in the late 80's in the tightest of spaces, and they are at the point where they are damaging driveways and threatening foundations. I'm in the process of removing one. Also, the "flower" cleanup is a bit on the obnoxious side, as they drop by the tens of thousands and blanket mine and my neighbor's driveways. They are very invasive and I actively pluck seedlings from the ground all around the tree as they grow very easily from dropped seed pods. I give it a neutral rating because of my predicament; however, it is probably not a bad tree in other scenarios.

This tree grows in my Mother's yard in Coral Springs, Florida. Flowers drop to the ground by the thousands. Some say "messy" some say "...Read Morebeautiful". Flowers are small and even though they are abundent they are not noticeable from a distance. They are beautiful up close. It is a great shade tree. It is about 25 feet tall and wide. I myself love this tree and am glad that it is in my Mother's yard and not mine. It would be a great tree for an English type garden in a tropical location.

This is a nice tree that is often seen in cultivation in southern Florida in zones 9b, 10a, 10b and 11. It is very beautiful in habit, an...Read Mored forms a dense canopy of light to dark green leaves. Most of the trees here in southern Florida were planted in previous years, and trees are no longer planted as often as they were in the past, up to recently in the 1980s, 1990s or possibly 2000. It is often seen planted in parks, parking lots, on property borders, residenral community borders and backyards. It makes a nice and attractive shade tree. It grows up to about 20, 25, 30 or 35 feet. It is generally a small to medium tree. I have seen it occasionally in natural areas in southern Florida, such as especially in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties (the 3 counties in SE Florida where the trees were most often planted and often seen), and it may be somewhat invasive, which is why I give it a neutral rating. This tree is hardy down to about 25 or 30 degrees farenheit (zone 9b in it's northernmost limit).

The trees are weeping in habit, somewhat, with light to dark green leaves. It gets lots of showy clusters of small to medium, attractive, pink to purple or lavender or somewhat maroon or purple-violet or somewhat whitish flowers on spikes of the branches or leaves sticking up. The flowers are fragrant, and fall from the trees in abundance. They are small and somewhat tubular-shaped. The fallen flowers form a dense shower of small flowers on sidewalks, ponds or in soil. The fallen flowers, especially after a rain, seem to have a very nice, sweet fragrance, although when you hold one up to your nose it may not smell, whether it has rained or not. The fragrance really comes from the flowers that are still growing in the tree. It is very nice.

The tree has bark that is gray, often with some white streaks on it. In this way, the trunk looks somewhat like that of a tropical version of a birch tree. Many times, new growth or growth of new, small branches occurs from the base of the tree or up along the trunk.

The leaves are light to dark green, and are somewhat rounded in shape. They are pointed at the tip.

In Miami, I have seen this tree planted a lot in many areas, northward along the coast as far north as possibly St. Lucie or Martin counties.

In one area in Miami, in a park on Key Biscayne called Crandon Park, I saw a lot of these trees. They were common in the parking lots. The park is near the ocean, but although parts of it is somewhat exposed, these trees have some protection they need from the salt and sea. In the old zoo in the park, I saw several trees. There were ponds and lagoons in the park. At least around one pond I saw several trees. They looked really nice in the setting.

This tree is fairly easy to grow. However, it may not have overly great wind tolerance in hurricanes, though.

This tree is commonly grown in southern Florida, the Caribbean, and other areas.

The tree has round, hard, brown seed pods that fall and break in abundance around the tree. Before they are brown, they are green when new.