What is a sorrowful tree?

By Chelsie Vandaveer

October 19, 2001

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There is a small tree in India and Southeast Asia called the sorrowful tree (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis) [nick tan' thees ar' bor -- tris' tis]. Its fragrant, white flowers open at night and are a source of yellow dye and an essential oil for perfumes. It was used medicinally in the Orient to treat the pain of rheumatism and sciatica, and when mixed with black pepper and honey was supposed to cure malaria.

Fort Jaisalmer, Rajasthan
Peter Adams
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Linnaeus gave this tree its botanical name. In many of the things he classified, the names he selected came from myths and legends. Nyctanthes is in reference to the fact that the tree blooms at night. The species epithet, though, hints at a legend that has been lost in the last 400 years. Arbor-tristis literally means tree-sorrowful. It is probable that Linnaeus had read of this tree in John Gerard's The Herbal (1633).

Gerard said of this tree: "set full of leaves...among which come forth most odoriferous and sweet smelling flowers, whole stalks the color of saffron, which flourish and show themselves only in the nighttime, and in the daytime look withered and with a mourning cheer: the leaves also at that time shrink in themselves together...very sadly lumping, lowering, and hanging down the head, as though it loathed the light and could not abide the heat of the sun. I should but in vain lose labor in repeating a foolish fancy of the poetical Indians...that this tree was once a fairy daughter of a great lord, and that the Sun was in love with her."

TopTropicals.com has photographs of the Nyctanthes arbor-tristis and two versions of the mythology surrounding the tree. To view photographs of the tree, leaves and flowers of the Nyctanthes arbor-tristis, click on the link:

http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/nyctanthes_arbortristis.htm

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