Lagerstroemia speciosa


I am participating in the April AtoZ Blogging challenge and my theme is Plants featured on Indian Stamps. This is my eight attempt at the AtoZ. 

My theme is inspired by an online talk by Daniel L Nikrent of Cornell University, USA held by Maharashtra Vriksha Samvardhini about Parasitic Flowering Plants featured on Stamps

I am not a stamp collector nor a fan of stamps. Hence almost all my posts are purely based on research on the internet. I have tried to cross check the info before posting here. Please do share correct info and links to the same in case of discrepancy. 

India Post has a very strong network reaching deep deep into the interiors of the country and I depended on it for news from home when we were posted in far away places.  In this age of smartphones, Internet, how many of us really write letters – snail mail as they are now called? Despite this , I find that new stamps are being issued and we have stamps on diverse topics including Armed Forces, Films, Personalities, Wildlife, Handlooms, Handicrafts, Food and so on.. It is amazing!

Lagerstromia speciosa or Tamhan (aka Jarul) of the Lythraceae family is the state flower of Maharashtra. This native tree is now seen often in gardens and roadsides. The flowers look spectacular with their frilly petals and are a pleasure to watch in the blazing summer. It is the state flower of my state Maharashtra. Its leaves turn a beautiful red before they fall.

Here is the Tamhan from my image collection.

Leaves turn red before they fall

This is  the stamp issued in 1993 is of denomination of 1 INR.

Post of India, GODL-India https://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/Gazette_Notification_OGDL.pdf, via Wikimedia Commons

The India Postage Stamps website  has a complete catalogue of stamps. Please click the link to see many many wonderful stamps.

Colnect is a comprehensive portal for Stamp collectors. It gives detailed information about every listed stamp.  Click here for detailed info about Stamps – what is a stamp, types, formats, water marks, perforations and much more.  

You can catch up with my previous posts on my 2022AtoZ here.

In addition to the AtoZ, with this post, I am joining Parul in her ThursdayTreeLove blog hop. Do head over to see fantastic trees from around the world. Better still, join in! I think I am over the commenting issues but if you still face difficulties in sharing your thoughts, please click here to do so. Thanks!!

Stay Healthy! Stay Happy!

11 Replies to “Lagerstroemia speciosa”

  1. Oh wow! That’s a lovely state flower and love the red leaves. I have heard of the Jarul tree but I never knew this is the one. Thanks for educating us, Archana and so good to know are on the April A to Z challenge. It’s been many years I took it up but it used to be fun.
    See you soon on today’s edition. As usual I am late 🙁

  2. I have seen this tree with red leaves, it’s beautiful and different. Loved the pic of the flower. I love collecting stamps, it makes me nostalgic as I use to write a lot of letters.

    1. Wow! That’s a great hobby from what I am reading. The stamps are a valuable asset. I too don’t write letters..just WhatsApp, call or email. I am glad you liked the photos. Thanks for stopping by! 🙏🏻

  3. I laughed at out loud at your query, “how many of us write letters?” [Raises hand]. Snail mail is life. 🙂 I do love your pretty pink state flower and the lovely stamp. 😉

    1. That’s cool Chandra!! I wrote snail mail till around 2003 (i think). Thereafter very rarely. 🙁 I am glad you liked the flower.. Thanks for stopping by! 🙏🏻

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