Parijaat-

dt 14th Nov 2012. 
PARIJAAT
Had grown Parijaat for abt 8 yrs in mu home. 
Small white flowers- tiny orange stalk  in clusters and extremely delicate, blooms at night. 
With a Fungal attack and cement dust from adjacent bldg wilted away in 1990 .Was unable to get a replacement as so many varietes confused-name and local nurseries were unable to supply. 
Many  times the Saplings of flowers even all mixed up and I got wrong saplings. Finally i got the sapling from Vijaywada.  
I also learnt the flower is called Harsinghar in Hindi and Shefali in Bengali.

Parijaat Flowers are so sensitive  -get hurt easily and need much care .
Correct name is N. arbor-tristis
Also  known as Night-flowering Jasmine. 
Seen as a special Divine flower associated with Shree Krishna  

Rgds,
TR
FROM SOURCES:

"Parijat" is considered to be a divine tree. In the Poems of Rabindranath Tagore there are descriptions about Parijat Flowers.

Parijat is also known as "Har Singar", "Sephali" "Sephalika" and "Night Jasmine". It is widely known that the flowers of Parijat blossom in the evening hours only and shed off the next morning. Its branches are rectangular and its flowers are fragrant. The stem of the flower is saffron in color and the petals are white. The flowers blossom between August to October.

In India, they grow in the outer Himalayas at the height of about 1400 mtrs, and are found in tracts of Jammu & Kashmir, Nepal to East of Assam, Bengal, Tripura extended through the Central region upto Godavari in the South. Besides India, they are found in Thailand, Indonesia, Nepal and Pakistan.

Apart from contributing to the beauty of gardens, "Parijat" has also got medicinal properties. The juice of its leaves is bitter and saline in taste. Taking its juice is considered to be useful in the treatment of fever. Its bark, if taken as medicine is known to give relief in & swelling of lungs. The oil produced from its bark brings relief to pains the eyes and used for hair tonics. Fresh juice of its leaves mixed with honey provides effective relief in the treatment of chronic fever. The decoction of its leaves prepared over low fire gives relief in the treatment of chronic ‘Citica pain’. The juice of its leaves mixed with little sugar is used for treatment of stomach diseases of children. Application of six to seven of its tender leaves with little flesh gin- ger juice, churned in water, brings relief in case of high fever. Its flowers, though bitter in taste act as appetiser and soothe the stomach. Its seeds are used in the treatment of skin diseases and piles.

Date of Issue: 8.3.1997

>      Kingdom: Plantae
>      (unranked): Angiosperms
>      (unranked): Eudicots
>      (unranked): Asterids
>      Order: Lamiales
>      Family: Oleaceae
>      Genus: Nyctanthes
>      Species: N. arbor-tristis
>      Binomial name
>      Nyctanthes arbor-tristis