Today I planted one of the many sacred trees from India, Mimusops elengi aka bakul, bullet wood, or spanish cherry. The whole tree is used as ayurvedic medicine, mostly for dental care and oral hygiene, but also for a variety of other ailments. The cherries are sweet and edible but there is not much pulp. With enough fruits it could be turned into a jam. Bakul flowers are small, star shaped and creamy white and has a sweet fragrance even after they are dried. The flowers are made into bakul leis. In Western India there is a place called Siddha Bakul in Puri where Haridasa Thakur chanted the names of Krishna 300,000 times daily under a bakul tree. That’s a lot of chanting man.
Originally posted on 2021-06-04, part of the daily planting journal behind Ha’a Chocolate’s food forest on Hawai’i Island.