Shorea robusta (sal, "Sarasoju")

Japanese name: サラソウジュ （沙羅双樹、娑羅双樹）
Scientific name: Shorea robusta

[Overview]
A deciduous tree up to 45 m tall and 1 m in diameter.
It sheds its leaves in the dry season.
The leaves are simple and alternate, elliptic, 10–25 cm long.
The flowers are borne in panicles; they are pale yellow, star-shaped with 5 petals, about 3 cm across.
The flowers are fragrant.
The fruit is a nut 1.5–2 cm across, with five large, slender wings 5–7 cm long formed from developed sepals, resembling the shuttlecock of a hagoita (battledore).

[History]
Together with Muyuju and Bodaiju, it is regarded as one of the "Three Great Sacred Trees of Buddhism."
It also appears in The Tale of the Heike as a symbol of impermanence.

[Uses]
The wood is heavy, hard and highly resistant to decay, and in India it is used as an important timber for buildings, bridges and the like.
The resin is used in religious ceremonies and as a raw material for paints and varnish.

[Notes]
The Japanese name Soju (twin trees) comes from the legend that when Shakyamuni entered nirvana, two of these trees were growing on each of the four sides around him.
"Sara" comes from Sanskrit.
It grows poorly in Japan, and the tree planted at temples and elsewhere as Sara-no-ki (Shara-no-ki) is Natsu-tsubaki, of the Tsubaki family.

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