{{Short description|Monotypic genus of legumes}} {{for|the asteroid|516 Amherstia}} {{Speciesbox | image = Amherstia nobilis (2369714639).jpg | image_caption = Flowers on a cultivated specimen in India | status = EW | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="IUCN">{{cite iucn |author=Rivers, M.C. |year=2024 |title=''Amherstia nobilis'' |article-number=e.T226776565A227965606 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2024-1.RLTS.T226776565A227965606.en}}</ref> | display_parents = 3 | genus = Amherstia | parent_authority = Wall. | species = nobilis | authority = Wall. |range_map_caption = {{center|{{legend0|#c71010|It was native to Myanmar but is now extinct in the wild.<ref name="IUCN" />}}}} |range_map = <mapframe text="" width=220 height=220 zoom=2>[{"type":"ExternalData","service":"geoshape","ids":"Q836","properties":{"title":"native","fill":"#c71010","stroke-width":0,"description":""}}]</mapframe> }}
'''''Amherstia nobilis''''' ({{langx|my|သော်ကကြီး}} {{IPA|my|θɔ̀ka̰ dʑí|}}; the '''Pride of Burma''') is a tropical tree growing to about {{convert|15|m}} in height with large, showy flowers. It is the only member of the genus '''''Amherstia'''''. It is widely cultivated for ornament in the humid tropics, but is extinct in the wild, only being known from a single wild specimen which was recorded in 1865.<ref name="IUCN"/> It is thus potentially endemic in Burma (Myanmar), hence the common name, though Plants of the World Online also cites it as native in adjoining Thailand.<ref name="POWO">{{cite POWO |title=''Amherstia nobilis'' Wall. |id=473718-1 |access-date=2025-06-17}}</ref> The scientific name commemorates Lady Amherst, (as does Lady Amherst's pheasant) and also her daughter Sarah.<ref name=Wallich>Wallich, Nathaniel. ''Plantae Asiaticae Rariores'' 1: [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/449445#page/14/mode/1up 1], 1830 [1829].</ref> Another common name, orchid tree, is also used for members of the genus ''Bauhinia''.
==Description== The extravagant flowers are seen hanging from the metre-long pendent inflorescence,<ref>{{cite book | last= Allen | first= O.N. and Ethel K. | date= 1981 | title= The Leguminosae - A Sourcebook of Characteristics, Uses and Nodulation | location= Madison, Wisconsin | publisher= Univ. Wisc. Press | pages= 39–40 | isbn= 0-299-08400-0 }}</ref> or flower stalk, which is a bright crimson red at the end. There are 5 petals although 2 of these are minute and the rest are of unequal size. These petals are also crimson; the two medium-sized petals are yellow at the tip and the largest petal is broad and fan-shaped with a wavy upper margin and a yellow triangle of colour extending from the lip down into the flower. This large petal can reach {{cvt|7.5|cm}} long and over {{cvt|4|cm}} wide at the end. There are either 9 or 10 stamens, 9 of which are partially fused into a pink sheath; the stamens are of two differing lengths with the longer ones having larger anthers. The compound leaves bear six to eight large leaflets; these are broadly oblong in shape and are pallid underneath.<ref name=Wallich/>
The fruit, a legume, is a pod {{cvt|11 to 20|cm}} long. The pods are roughly scimitar-shaped, and the woody outer case opens to disperse the seeds.{{cn|date=March 2023}}
==Gallery== <gallery perrow="7"> File:P1240149 Amherstia nobilis (fierté de Birmanie).jpg|''Amherstia nobilis'' beginning of the inflorescence File:P1240150 Amherstia nobilis (fierté de Birmanie).jpg|''Amherstia nobilis'' flowering File:P1240151 Amherstia nobilis (fierté de Birmanie).jpg|''Amherstia nobilis'' detail of the flower File:Amherstia nobilis with flower, new red leaves, and mature green leaves.jpg|Flower, new red leaves, and mature green leaves File:Amherstia nobilis seedpod.jpg|Seedpod File:Plantae Asiaticae rariores, or, Descriptions and figures of a select number of unpublished East Indian plants (Tab. 1) BHL449447.jpg|Illustration </gallery>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060706205801/http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/plants_and_algae/Amherstia_nobilis/ From the ARKive digital database]
{{Taxonbar|from2=Q18201508|from1=Q58522}}
Category:Detarioideae Category:Monotypic Fabaceae genera Category:Trees of Myanmar Category:Ornamental trees