Basanti / Yellow Flax
Reinwardtia indica
- Habit
- Shrub
- Found in India
- Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka & more
- Flowering
- October-March
How to identify Basanti
Identify Basanti by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a shrub habit.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Showy yellow flowers (yellow flax).
- Confirm flower colour: Yellow.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: October-March.
- In India, compare location records such as Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar and nearby regions.
- Confirm it sits within the Linaceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Basanti.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Reinwardtia indica
- Genus
- Reinwardtia
- Family
- Linaceae
- Habit
- Shrub
- Habitat
- On hill tops
- Distribution
- India, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, W. China, W. Pakistan
- Found in India
- Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, West Bengal
- Flowering & fruiting
- October-March
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- Yellowrecorded
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Actinomorphic (radially symmetrical)
- Fruit
- Drupe
Characters marked “recorded” are for Basanti itself; the rest are typical of the Linaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Hindi
- बसंती Basanti
- Nepali
- प्याउली Pyauli
- Telugu
- Verriyaadala
About Basanti
Yellow Flax (Reinwardtia indica) is a shrub in the Linaceae family. In India it has been recorded in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and 9 other states. It grows in on hill tops. Flowering and fruiting run from October to March.
Linaceae
Flax Family
Basanti belongs to the Linaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the Linaceae familySnap it. Know it.
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Common plant problems
If you are starting from symptoms instead of a diagnosis, use the plant disease symptom checker to narrow the cause before treating.
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