Saraca Asoca, Sita Ashok, Ashoka Tree - 0.5 kg Seeds

The Ashoka or Sita Ashok (Saraca asoca) is a small, handsome evergreen tree with drooping bronze-pink young foliage and dense rounded clusters of fragrant flowers that open orange and deepen to scarlet through the flowering season. It is one of the most sacred and revered trees of India.

Native to the moist forests of the Western Ghats, central India and the Himalayan foothills, it is grown as an ornamental and shade tree in temples, gardens and avenues; its bark is a celebrated Ayurvedic medicine for women's reproductive health, and the flowers and seeds also have traditional uses. True Saraca asoca should not be confused with the unrelated mast tree often sold under the same name.

• Family: Fabaceae
• Native region: Western Ghats and sub-Himalayan India
• Mature height: 7-10 m
• Growth rate: slow to moderate

The seeds are recalcitrant and lose viability fast, so sow them fresh. Soak in water for 24-48 hours, then sow about 2 cm deep in a rich, moisture-retentive seed-tray mix kept warm and shaded; germination takes around 14-21 days. Grow the seedlings on in partial shade and transplant once 25-30 cm tall during the rains.