Myanmar [Burma] (Bago, Magway, Mandalay, Yangon), India (Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu), Pakistan (Baluchistan, Quetta, Chitral, Karachi, Sind, Waziristan, Pakistani Punjab), Pakistani Kashmir (Gilgit), Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Jammu & Kashmir, Vietnam, Morocco (I) as per Catalogue of Life;

Common name: Indian Tamarisk • Assamese: ঝাও jhao • Bengali: ঝাউ jhau • Gujarati: લૈ lai • Hindi: झाऊ jhau, पिचुल pichul • Kannada: ಪಕ್ಕೆ pakke • Malayalam: siru savukku • Marathi: झाबुक jhabuk, झाऊ jhau • Nepali: झाउ jhau • Punjabi: ਝਾਊ jhau, ਲੈ lai • Sanskrit: अफलः aphalah, बहुग्रन्थिः bahugranthih, झावुकः jhavukah, पिचुलः pichulah • Tamil: சிறுசவுக்கு ciru-cavukku, கோடைச்சவுக்கு kotai-c-cavukku • Telugu: పక్కె pakke • Urdu: جهاو jhau

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Shrubs or small trees, about 1.5-6 m tall. Stem much branched, glabrous, two kinds of branches present, young green vegetative branches which are deciduous in winter and ligneous old growing branches which are not deciduous in winter. Leaves alternate, scale-like, pseudovaginate, free part triangular-ovate to lanceolate-ovate, 0.5-3 mm long, base amplexicaul, margins not coherent, apex deeply acute to acuminate, rachis minutely papillose, petiole sessile, stipules absent. Inflorescence racemes or paniculate in young and old branches, terminal or lateral, both in spring and summer, about 3-8 x 0.3-0.4 cm across. Flowers bisexual, slightly fragrant, pedicel very short or subsessile, bracts trullate-lanceolate or trullate-ovate, margins denticulate or subentire, apex acuminate, deflexed, about 1.5-2.5 mm long, herbaceous of fleshy, sepals 5 partite lobes obovate-suborbicular, margins obscurely denticulate, apex obtuse or truncate, about 1-1.5 x 1.5-1.6 mm across, petals 5, oblong-elliptic to obovate, pink, or pale pink, margins entire, apex slightly notched, about 1.5-2 x 0.8-1.5 mm across. Stamens 5, in series or two, inserted near nectiferous disc, exserted, opposite to calyx filaments, about 2.5-3.5 mm long, anthers bi-lobed, disc pentalobed, about 1 mm across. Ovary conical or pyramidal, 3-4 locular, ovules many, basal parietal placentation, styles 3, free, rarely connate at the base, stigma 3, capitate. Fruit capsule, conic-pyramidal, about 3.5-4 x 1.3-1.5 mm across, tri-valved. Seeds numerous, about 0.6 mm across coma about 2.5 mm long.

(Attributions- Ganeshaiah, K. N., UAS, Bangalore, India.; Kailash, B. R., ATREE, Bangalore, India.; Royal Norwegian Embassy grants. Indian Bioresource Information Network (IBIN), Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi)