Bauhinia species, named as such after Jean
Bauhin and Gaspard Bauhin (Houghton Mifflin
Co. 2009), are important ornamental, forest and
medicinal plants, including climbers and trees.
Bauhinia variegata Linn. Benth (Caesalpiniaceae),
commonly referred to as the orchid tree in
English, serves as a source of fire-wood and is
thus important for agro-forestry, and is the most
studied Bauhinia species. B. variegata is most
frequently found in tropical climates and is
known to restore fertility to acid and degraded
soils because of its ability to fix nitrogen
(Acharya and Kafle 2009).