The other day, I was walking the streets of Pattaya in Thailand, I came across this very unusual tree it was indeed a beautiful looking tree, truly exotic and even a little alien looking, I just had to stop to admire, touch and feel those beautiful elegant pinkish-white flowers that were hanging from this tree, they grow on a long racemes that can be up to a meter in length. This Powder-Puff Tree's scientific name is the Barringtonia Racemosa Tree and the flowers have a very sweet musty smell, stronger at nights attracting Moths, Bees and Ants for it's nectar in the flowers and buds.
They say this Power-Puff tree is associated with mangrove tree family but it can thrive with dry soil in the garden and loves the subtropical conditions. It first originated from the swamps of Southern Africa and has made it's way almost all around the world from Madagascar to India, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Japan and even to the land of downunder Australia, including many other countries.
The amazing part about this Power-Puff Tree, is it's not only a stunning looking tree with it's beautiful flowers that it blooms, the tree contains many chemical compounds that are indeed very useful for many pharmacological benefits, just to name a few medicines that are made from it's chemical compounds, they are used to help in treating chicken pox, itchy skin, treat coughs, bronchitis, diarrhoea and many more health benefits. In Africa these chemical compounds from the Power-Puff tree were used in traditional Zulu medicine to treat malaria.
Not only does this tree have many uses from it's flowers, leaves, the bark, the trunk in the medical industry but also in the commercial industry and apart from all that, I found it to be one very beautiful tree from the buds to fallen flowers a fascinating, extraordinary tree and very photogenic tree, I could of spend hours taking photos of this tree.
Never seen such beauty a very unusual and beautiful bloom the flowers felt like, I was touching silk.
