shola

• Rhymes: -əʊlə

Bengali শোলা (śōla).

shola (countable and uncountable, plural sholas)

1. A wild plant found in Bengal and Assam, Aeschynomene aspera, having a milky-white, spongy pith used for the manufacture of pith helmets and decorative artefacts.

• sola, solah

• sola topi, solar topee

Tamil [Term?]

shola (plural sholas)

1. (India, historical) A wooded ravine; a thicket.
   • 1862, Markham, Peru and India, page 356:

     At daylight […] we left the Sisipara bungalow, and rode for several miles through a valley interspersed with sholas of rhododendron trees.

   • 1876, Sir M. E. Grant-Duff, Notes of Indian Journey, page 202:

     Here and there in the hollows were little jungles; sholas, as they are called.

• HALOs, LOHAS, Sohal, halos, shoal, solah