Digital Garden

Dalbergia latifolia Roxb.

ഈട്ടി

Family : FABACEAE/LEGUMINOSAE (Subfam.: Papilionoideae)

Synonym : Dalbergia emarginata Roxb.

Common Names : Cholaveetti, Eeti, Kariveeti, Veeti, Bombay blackwood, East Indian rosewood, Indonesia rosewood, Malabar rosewood

Flowering Period : August – September

Distribution : Indo-Malaysia

Habitat : Dry and moist deciduous forests, also in the plains

Uses : Tannins extracted from the bark are used to treat diarrhoea and indigestion. Timber used to make furniture, veneers, musical instruments, boat keels and joinery. Due to its nitrogen-fixing properties, the foliage is usually nitrogen-rich and is used as mulch or fodder. This species is usually planted with crops like rice, maize, beans, coffee and ginger.

Key Characters :

Deciduous trees, to 25 m high, bark grey, smooth with short irregular cracks. Leaves imparipinnate; lamina orbicular, margin entire, glabrous. Flowers bisexual, white, in short corymbose panicles from the axils of fallen leaves of previous years shoot; calyx tube campanulate; lobes 5; petals 5; stamens 9, monadelphous; ovary stipitate, inferior, 1-celled, ovules 1-few. Fruit a pod.