Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Kunth ex Walp.

ശീമക്കൊന്ന

Family : Leguminosae (Papilionoideae)

Synonym : Robinia sepium Jacq.

Common Names : Cheema konna, Seema konna, Spotted Gliricidia

Flowering Period : March – May

Distribution : Native of South America; introduced and now widely grown in India

Habitat : Cultivated in fields and along fences

Uses : Flowers - cooked and eaten as a potherb. The plant is reported to be expectorant, sedative and suppurative. Crude extracts have been shown to have antifungal activity. The plant is a folk remedy for alopecia, boils, bruises, burns, colds, cough, debility, eruptions, erysipelas, fever, fractures, gangrene, headache, itch, prickly heat, rheumatism, skin tumours, ulcers, urticaria and wounds. The plant has found application as a rodenticide and general pesticide. The seeds are used as a rat poison. An extract of the leaf is used as an ingredient in commercial cosmetic preparations as a hair conditioner and skin conditioner.

Key Characters :

Trees to 8 m high; bark grey. Leaves odd-pinnate, alternate, spiral; leaflets opposite; lamina ovate, ovate-oblong, margin entire. Flowers bisexual, rose-pink, racemes; lobes obscure; petals exserted; stamens 9+1; vexillary stamen free; anthers uniform; ovary half inferior, sessile; style incurved, glabrous; stigma capitate. Fruit a pod.