Oleaceae

Melancholy tree

Nyctanthes arbor-tristis L.

Family: Oleaceae
Genus: Nyctanthes

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Melancholy tree (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis) — FlowerPhoto: Aparna Shyam, CC BY 4.0, from iNaturalist

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Common names

By language (13)

Bangla: শিউলি, শিউলী, শিউলী ফুল, শেফালী
Bhojpuri: पारिजात, प्राजक्ता, शिउली, शेफाली, सिंहेड़ा
Chinese: 夜花, 萍蓬草根
English: Melancholy tree, Sad tree, Sorrowful tree
Hindi: Parijat, परिजात, पारिजात, प्राजक्ता, शेफ़ाली, हरसिंगार
Malayalam: പാരിജാതം
Marathi: पारिजात, पारीजातक, प्राजक्त
Odia: ଗଙ୍ଗଶିଉଳି, ପାରିଜାତ, ଶେଫାଳି, ଶେଫାଳୀ
Polish: Paridźata
shn: မွၵ်ႇလွတ်ႇၶမ်း, မွၵ်ႇသလၢပ်ႈၽိလူး, မွၵ်ႇၽီလူး
Tamil: பவளமல்லி, பவளமல்லிகை, பாரிஜாதம்
Telugu: పారిజాత, పారిజాత పుష్పము, పారిజాత వృక్షము
Thai: ดอกกาญจนิกา

Synonyms

Bruschia macrocarpa Bertol.
Nyctanthes dentata Blume
Nyctanthes tristis Salisb.
Parilium arbor-tristis (L.) Gaertn.
Scabrita scabra L.
Scabrita triflora L.

Flowers

In flower: April to May, July to December (from 49 flowering iNaturalist observations worldwide)

Photos

FlowerPhoto: Aparna Shyam, CC BY 4.0, from iNaturalist
FlowerPhoto: Dinesh Valke, CC BY-SA 4.0, from iNaturalist
FlowerPhoto: Rama Narayanan, CC BY 4.0, from iNaturalist
FlowerPhoto: Raja Sekhar Chimirala, CC BY 4.0, from iNaturalist
Photo: J.M.Garg, CC BY-SA 3.0, from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: T R Shankar Raman, CC BY 4.0, from iNaturalist
Photo: J.M.Garg ., CC BY-SA 3.0, from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Ram Dayal Vaishnav, CC BY 4.0, from iNaturalist
Photo: Adityamadhav83, CC BY-SA 3.0, from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: portioid, CC BY 4.0, from iNaturalist
Photo: Adityamadhav83, CC BY-SA 3.0, from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Athul R T, CC BY-SA 4.0, from iNaturalist

More in Nyctanthes

Nyctanthes aculeataOleaceae

Sources: classification, synonyms from World Flora Online Plant List (2026-06, CC0 1.0); common names, popularity from Wikidata (2026-10-26, CC0 1.0). About our plant data.