Large, sweetly-scented, magenta and pink, orchid-like flowers open throughout the year on this small deciduous ornamental tree which carries attractive large leaves, deeply two-lobed. Although in subtropical and tropical climates it is usually grown for its magnificent strongly-perfumed flowers, it is also used as a food item in South Asian cuisine and is widely used as an ingredient in many Pakistani and Indian recipes. Traditional kachnar curry is prepared using kachnar buds, yogurt, onions and native Pakistani and Indian spices. Kachnar buds are also eaten as a stir fried vegetable and used to make achaar, a pickle in many parts of the Indian sub-continent. In the Neotropics, it attracts hummingbirds. Mountain Ebony surely is one of the loveliest of Indian trees.
