Flora of Bangladesh

Shiuly or  Night jasmine (nyctanthes arbor-tristis, family: verbenaceae) is one of the most popular and loving plant in Bangladesh. It is a large shrub or small tree with scattered branches, reaching 5-7 m in height. Bark is whitish grey and rough. It is grown in gardens and homestead for its sweet-scented flowers.

Leaves are pale green, rough in both sides, opposite, serrated, ovate, 7-10 cm long and 3-6 cm wide, apex acute, petiole small. 

It's a deciduous plant; many leaves fall in winter and spring. It looks little bit beautiless then, but rest of the time it looks great.


Local names: Shefali, Shefalika.  Other English name: Coral jasmine.
Flowers are showy, white, corolla tube orange, deeply scented, dense cluster at the end of the stalk. Flowers occurs in August-September mainly. They bloom at the night and fall off before sunrise. 

Fruits are flattened, round. Two seeds are found in two different chambers. The plant is easily propagated  by seed.

Leaves are used in fever, r…

Ghghra or Bon okra (xanthium strumarium, family: asteraceae) is an annual upright herb with rough hairs, attaining a height of 150 cm. Stem is black or brown-spotted and short with fewer branches. The plant is found everywhere in Bangladesh. 

Other names: Bichhafol, Lehra khagra, Chhoto khagra, Hagra.
Leaves are hairy in in both parts, opposite, 5-12 cm long, triangular, dentate, almost look like Brinjal leaf; long-petioled. 

Flowers are borne in disc inflorescence, terminally in pairs, whitish. 

Fruits are ovoid, thorny and easily caught by clothes and bodies of animals. Each fruit contains two flattened black-seeds. 

The plant produces flower in spring and fruits in the summer. Propagation of the plant is caused by seeds. It is grown in fallow land, in field and roadside.


It boosts energy, sex potency, breast milk and cures blood dysentery, gonorrhea and rheumatism. 

Roots taste bitter. Village doctors mention that, these can be used in goiter and cancer. It leaves are used as veget…

Shal or Sal (shorea robusta, family: dipterocarpaceae) is a large and deciduous robust tree with straight trunk and few branches at the top, usually 20-40 m high. Wood is reddish brown. The tree is found in Gazipur, Tangail, Mymensingh, Dhaka, Dinajpur, Rongpur and Comilla in Bangladesh.

Leaves are simple, alternate, glossy green, leathery, ovate-oblong with pointed apex, base rounded or cordate, 15-20 cm and 5-10 cm wide; petioles 2 cm. long.


Flowers are very small, petals 5, yellowish orange, soft and hairy, borne on large panicle. Flowers blooms in March-April.


Fruit is brown-colored nut with 5 unequal linear wings, 5-7 cm long. propagated by fresh seeds and also from newly grown seedlings those grown from the base of the tree. For this reason, Shal is also called Gojari.


Shal is a commercial timber tree in Bangladesh. Its timber is robust and used as pole, boat, railway sleeper, furniture. Burning leaves produce a kind of aroma. So cigar can be made from its leaves. Fat obtained f…

Boro cahdor or Boro chondrika (rauvolfia tetraphylla, family: apocynaceae) is a shrub, attaining a height of 1-2m, with branches. The leaves and its strong roots taste bitter. The plant is poisonous too. It grows in wet or damp places. 

The plant is gradually being extinct from Bangladesh. The good news is, nowadays this traditional medicinal plant is cultivated throughout the medicinal gardens of the country. 'Gondhonakuli' is its Sanskrit name.

Whorled leaves are light green, 6-10 cm long, elliptical. Terminal flowers are very small, pure white, sepals 5, petals 5-lobed, salver-shaped. The plant produces flower in summer. 

The main feature of the plant is its vivid red fruits. Fruit is drupe, round, red when almost ripe but mature fruit is deep purple in color. The branches filled with abundant fruits are almost laid down to ground. Propagation of the plant is caused by seeds and cuttings.

The plant can be used in preventing the scourge of snake, rat, scorpion and spider. Th…

Bashok or Malabar nut (justicia adhatoda) is a large leafy shrub with glabrous branches, attaining a height of about 2 m. In many places it can grow up to 6 meters. It is found everywhere in Bangladesh, specially in medicine gardens of the country.

Leaves are dark green, smooth, elliptic-lanceolate, 12-13 cm long and 4-5 cm wide, acute at the apex. Shiny leaves are bitter-flavored.


About Bashok, there are two words are recorded in the Ayurvedic scriptures: ‍as long as there are Bashoks in the world, the patients of cough and tuberculosis will not be disappointed.

Flowers are white with purplish shade in inner petals. Calyx is 5-lobed, 75 cm long, oblong-lanceolate. Flowering occurs in the summer. Fruit is a capsule, almost 2 cm long. Seeds are round-shaped.

Propagation of the plant is caused by cuttings. Semi-shady place is good for its growth. It has many names in herbal literature, e.g. Shinghamukhi, Pitaparna, Panchamukhi and Mrigendrani.


Bashok is widely known herbal plant. It lea…

Shet-shimul or Kapok (ceiba pentandra, family: bombacaceae) is a tall deciduous tree, up to 30 m high, with fast-growing branches. Trunk is straight, prickly and greenish when young. The tree's trunk is so strong that it often covers a wide area. The original home of the plant is Central America. 

Other names: White silk cotton tree, Java cotton, Silk cotton.
Leaves are alternate, compound, digitately arranged; leaflets 5-8 entire, blade 10-12 cm long, lanceolate, shortly petioled.

Flowers are creamy white, 2.5 cm across, petals 5, borne on numerous axillary clusters near the end of branches.


Fruit is a capsule, ovoid, oblong, green when raw, grey when ripe, 7-12 cm long, 5-valved, many-seeded.

                      Flowering occurs from January-March along with the emergence of new leaves.

Leaf, bark, fruit, flower, root and adhesive are used to prepare medicines for strangury, physical weakness and bloody catamenia. The plant produces cotton like Shimul. Its timber is light and …

Kalmegh or Kalomegh, Green chirayta (andrographis paniculata, family: acanthaceae) is a bushy herb attaining a height of 1 m. Stem and branches are quadrangular. It is well-known medicinal plant in Bangladesh as well as in Indian subcontinent. The whole plant is bitter.  

Leaves are deep green, simple, opposite, narrow, 5-8 cm long, dented; veins and midribs are clearly visible. leaves taste bitter. 

Flowers are small, white with pinkish shade; tomentose; they will be red too. They bloom from late autumn to spring (November-March). 

Fruit is a capsule. They are narrow, upwards, small in size. There are numerous seeds in a pod. It propagates through seeds.
The plant grows on fallow lands as weed in Bangladesh. Nowadays it is grown in homestead or farmland for its medicinal value. 

It is used in dysentery, fever, worm, sore and stomach disorder. Liver tonic is prepared from the plant. The leaves are used to clean rotten wounds. It is used as an alternative to Quinine in England in the r…