Woman's Tongue

Commonly planted as a roadside tree. Wood resembles walnut and is excellent for furniture, picture frames, house building, canoes etc. It is also used for cane crushers, oil mills and wheels.

A large deciduous tree with dark grey bark, usually cracked, young parts usually hairy. Leaves bipinnate, rachis 7.5-15 cm long, glabrous or tomentose, with a large gland 1.2-3.7 cm from the base; stipules c. 3-4 mm long, linear, caducous, tomentose. Pinnae 1-4 pairs, 5-20 cm long, often with glands between the upper pairs of leaflets or between all the pairs. Leaflets 3-9 pairs, petiolule c. 1 mm long, the lateral leaflets oblong, terminal obovate, obtuse or retuse, glabrous or hairy. Inflorescence pedunculate heads, solitary or fasciculated; peduncle 3.5-10 cm long. Flowers whitish, very fragrant, pedicel hairy, c. 2-3 mm long, bracteate; bract 5 mm long, linear, caducous. Calyx campanulate 3-4 mm long, hairy, short toothed, teeth deltoid-acute. Corolla 7-8 mm long, funnel shaped, lobes c. 2 mm long, ovate, acute, hairy externally. Stamens 2.5-3.8 cm long, staminal tube slight¬ly shorter than corolla tube, anthers minute. Pod 15-30 cm long, c. 2.5-5.0 cm broad, thin, pale straw coloured. Seeds 6-12 compressed, pale brown, faveolate on both the faces.

A native of tropical Himalaya, India, Ceylon, S.E. Asia, S. China, but cultivated widely in tropics and subtropics.

Distribution: W. Pakistan, widely cultivated; Tropical Asia; N. Australia and Tropical Africa.

250-800 m

Fl. Per. April May.