Digital Garden

Pajanelia longifolia (Willd.) K. Schum.

ആഴാന്ത

Family : BIGNONIACEAE

Synonym : Pajanelia rheedei Wight

Common Names : Aralantha, Azhantha, Pajaneli, Palakapayyani, Payani, Payyazhantha

Flowering Period : January-June

Distribution : India and Myanmar

Habitat : Moist deciduous and semi-evergreen forests, also in the plains

Uses : A decoction of the leaves is used s a treatment against fever. A hot decoction of the leaves is used externally against stomach disorders. In parts of Malaysia it is commonly planted as stakes for hedges along rice fields. The tree is planted as support tree in pepper plantations. A fine wood that deserves to be better known, it has been used in the Andaman Islands for house building, planking and canoes.

Key Characters :

Deciduous trees, to 20 m high, bole unbranched to a considerable height; bark 2-3 cm thick, pale grey, shining, pustular lenticels in vertical rows. Leaves compound, imparipinnate, leaflets 7-17, opposite, 17-25 x 7-12 cm, ovate, apex acuminate, base oblique, margin entire, glabrous, chartaceous; rachis to 100 cm, glabrous, stout; petiolule 3-7 mm, channelled above, glabrous; lateral nerves 6-10 pairs, pinnate, prominent; intercostae reticulate. Flowers bisexual, crimson-purple, white within, in large terminal recemose panicles. Calyx 4.5 cm long, campanulate, lobes 5, rusty tomentose. Corolla 9 x 8 cm, tube 6-8 cm long, base narrow, broadly ventricose, lobes 5, subequal, crisped. Stamens 4, free, didydynamous with a rudimentary fifth, filaments arching, slender; anthers equal, oblong. Ovary 0.5-1 cm long, 2-celled, oblong; ovules many; placenta thin at centre; style 6 cm long; stigma 2 lobed. Fruit a capsule, 2 valved, 30-45 x 5-7.5 cm, brown, winged on both margins, compressed, smooth; seeds 2.5 x 1.5 cm, flat, papery, winged on both sides.