Sesbania grandiflora

Vegetable Hummingbird, Agati, Hummingbird Tree

Message of the Flower

Beginning of Realisation

The Mother’s Comment

Full of promise and hope, it radiates joy and confidence.

Spiritual Message by the Mother/ Quotes by Sri Aurobindo

Realisation is when something for which you are aspiring becomes real to you. E.g. you have the idea of the Divine in all, but it is only an idea, a belief; when you feel or see the Divine in all, it becomes a realisation.

Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III: Experiences and Realisations

In a more deep and spiritual sense a concrete realisation is that which makes the thing realised more real, dynamic, intimately present to the consciousness than any physical thing can be.

Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Himself and the Ashram: General Remarks

Realisations are the reception in the consciousness and the establishment there of the fundamental truths of the Divine, of the Higher or Divine Nature, of the world-consciousness and the play of its forces, of one's own self and real nature and the inner nature of things, the power of these things growing in one till they are a part of one's inner life and existence,—as for instance, the realisation of the Divine Presence, the descent and settling of the higher Peace, Light, Force, Ananda in the consciousness, their workings there, the realisation of the divine or spiritual love, the perception of one's own psychic being, the discovery of one's own true mental being, true vital being, true physical being, the realisation of the overmind or the supramental consciousness, the clear perception of the relation of all these things to our present inferior nature and their action on it to change that lower nature.

Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - III: The Danger of the Ego and the Need of Purification

Colour

White, pink, or red

Family

Fabaceae

Person who named the flower

Carl Linnaeus

Flower Size

Up to 4 inches long

Flower Texture

Soft, slightly velvety

Number of Petals

Five, with one large banner petal

Floral Symmetry

Bilateral

Fragrance of Flower

Mildly fragrant

Leaf Texture

Smooth

Leaf Arrangement

Alternate

Leaf Color

Green

Structural Variation (Shrub or Tree)

Fast-growing tree

Life Cycle

Perennial

Blooming Period

Throughout the year in tropical climates

Climate

Tropical and subtropical

Water Requirements

Moderate; tolerates flooding

Soil Type

Moist, well-drained fertile, adapts to poor soils

Temperature Ranges

Warm environments only; not frost-tolerant

Sun or Shade

Full sun

Susceptibility to Insects and Diseases

Susceptible to root rot, leaf spot

Pollinators

Bees, insects

Habitat

Southeast Asia, tropical Australia, wetlands

Role in the Ecosystem

Food for wildlife, soil fertility through nitrogen fixation

Quotations

Not commonly quoted

Ornamental

Attractive flowers, quick growth

Uses in Other Aspects of Life

Culinary, medicinal, agroforestry

Endangered Status

Not endangered