Indian Cork Tree (Millingtonia hortensis)

Native to Burma, Thailand, and the Malay Archipelago, this fast growing tree is found throughout South and Southeast Asia. In Chiang Rai it is known as “Ka Salong,” or “Peep,” and is a favorite garden tree. It is a tall, straight, deciduous tree which grows up to 25 meters.

The leaves are very ornamental; hence the tree is an eye-stopper even when not in bloom. It flowers from October until the end of December, blooming at night and shedding the flowers in the morning, forming a carpet on the ground below.

The flowers are silvery-white, fragrant, waxy, trumpet-shaped and somewhat two-lipped with five sub-equal lobes. The fruit is a capsule. The tree has a straight trunk with few, drooping branches, and corky bark that is often processed into an inferior cork as well as used in the production of a yellow dye.

The flowers can be rolled liked tobacco for smoking as a treatment for throat ailments, and the extract of the leaves has good antimicrobial activity. Used as tea, its dried flowers make a good lung tonic.