The ‘Wild Almond’ is a tall, straight tree. The scientific name of the tree is ‘Sterculia Foetida’. The aromatic nature of the tree can emphasise its name very well as because ‘Sterculia’ means “dung” and ‘Foetida’ means “foul-smelling”. Its family is ‘Sterculiaceae’. ‘Sterculia’ does have a lot of species. They have a variety in their leaf-shape. And the flowers are also different from each specie to another. Some of the flowers are very large and gorgeous while some others are small and almost unnoticeable. Some of them have very sweet scents and some other have offensive strong smells.

The tree is called in different names in different languages. In Hindi and Bengali, it is ‘Jungli Badam’. In Tamil, it is called as ‘Pinari’ or ‘Illawa’ while in Sinhalese it is ‘Telembu’. The Malay people call it as ‘Kelumpang’ or ‘Kayu Lepong’ and in English, it is known as the ‘Wild Almond’, ‘Poon Tree’ or the ‘Indian Almond’.

The tree takes a magnificent look when in the month of March and April, the leafage is at its fullest. Because of an extraordinary height of about 36m, this tree is calculated as one of the giant trees in India. The origin of the tree lies in East Africa and North Australia and also in the countries between. In Burma, Srilanka and down the West of Peninsula, the tree grows very generously. The grey bark of the tree is brown-spotted and slightly wavy and also very smooth. Sometimes in the year, the pieces of bark get loosen and also falls. This damages the normal beauty of the tree. Usually the branches of the tree are horizontal. But the several branchlets are very stylishly curved to the top and towards the end, its crowded with some large and digitate leaves.

The flowers of the ‘Wild Almond’ don’t have any kind of similarity with the tree. They appear early in February and form at the tricky ends of the wrinkly aged branch lets. They spread in a relaxed way just immediately under the new leaves. Normally, they are about 30 cm in length. The most distasteful thing that one can find in these flowers is their unpleasant odour which reminds of the stink of that of a drain or of the septic tank. This is very much unmatchable with the tall and handsome characteristics of the tree. The leaves of the tree normally bounce from the end of the branchlets in groups consist of about seven, in a length of about 15 cm. A green dye can be obtained from the young leaves that are slightly feathery and of pale green in colour. By March, there remain no more flowers in the tree and it is topped with a plenty of fresh green, floppy leaves. In April the fruit bunches look like odd, dark objects casually thrown into the tree and they also become very prominent.

The leaves and bark of the tree have some significant medicinal value as well. A gum that is obtained from the trunk and branches can replace the “gum tragacanth”. This can be used for book-binding and similar purposes. The seeds of the tree are also safe to eat. There are some other species of the ‘Wild Almond’ tree. Amongst them, ‘S. Urens’ is quite common. It is called ‘Culu’ in Hindi. The specie named S. Villosa has some handsome fruits and their hairy pods are like a starfish in shape. The Hindi name of this specie is ‘Udar’. ‘Sterculia Alata’ is another specie that is very popular for the roadside planting. As the large and wooden nuts are often more than 15 cm in diameter, it is very eye-catching when in fruit. In Bengali, it is called as ‘Buddha Narikella’. Another specie is ‘Firmiana Colorata’ or ‘Sterculia colorata’. This normally loses all of its leaves in the winter and in March; it gets decorated with numerous upright branches that have orange-red colour blossoms and buds. The seeds are largely lobed and they appear shortly. They are known as ‘Marambarutti’ in Tamil and ‘Maramparatti’ in Malayalam.