Pride of India is a fast-growing, medium-sized, deciduous, sub-canopy tree with an upright, round crown. The tree, which produces suckers, usually grows 15 metres tall or more, with some specimens up to 26 metres. The bole is around 60cm in diameter.The tree is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and source of materials. The wood is of good quality, considered to be one of the best timber trees in Myanmar and Assam, and is often traded. One of the most strikingly showy of flowering trees, and a good shade tree, it is commonly cultivated in gardens or along the sides of roads for its brightly coloured mauve or pink flowers with crinkled petals. These are borne in large, terminal, conical panicles, 30 cm long. The tree is clothed with 12-inch-long, dark green, oblong, leathery leaves which turn attractively red before falling in winter
