Stereospermum colais, the yellow snake tree, is 15âÂÂ20 m tall, trunk 15âÂÂ25 cm in diam, large leaves 25âÂÂ50 cm; leaflets 3âÂÂ6 on each side of midrib, long elliptic, 8-14 X 2.5âÂÂ6 cm. Large, pale yellow, trumpet shaped flowers occur in panicles. Flowers are pale yellow, slightly curved, about 2 cm, upper lip 2-lobed, lower lip 3-lobed, tomentose at mouth, tube terete. The fruit is long, 4-angular, slightly curved, 30âÂÂ70 cm, about 1 cm in diameter. This, probably, is the source of its common name, snake tree.
It is found in India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka: where it is "common in moist deciduous forests and occasional in openings or margins of evergreen forests, up to 1200 m."
In Vietnam, Stereospermum colais is known as . Its young leaves can be eaten as a vegetable in Vietnam's Central Highlands.