Digital Garden

Pithecellobium dulce (Roxb.) Benth.

കൊടകപ്പുളി

Family : FABACEAE/LEGUMINOSAE (Subfam.: Mimosoideae)

Synonym : Inga dulcis (Roxb.) Willd.

Common Names : Kodakapuli, Korukkapuli, Blackbead, Madras thorn, Manila tamarind, Monkeypod, Guamuchil, Guayamochil

Flowering Period : November – March

Distribution : Native of Tropical America, cultivated in the tropics

Habitat : Planted as fuelwood tree

Uses : Fruits edible. The leaves can be used as a plaster to allay pain even from venereal sores, and can relieve convulsions. A paste made from the leaves is applied externally to treat muscular swellings caused by some inflammations. The bark of the root is a good remedy for diarrhoea and dysentery. The fruit pulp is taken orally to stop blood flow in case of haemoptysis. The seed juice is inhaled into the nostrils against chest congestion and pulverised seeds are ingested for internal ulcers. A yellow dye is obtained from the bark.

Key Characters :

Pithecellobium dulce are trees with branchlets densely tomentose. Leaves bi-pinnate, alternate; lamina oblong-oblanceolate, margin entire. Flowers bisexual, creamy, heads arranged in axillary or terminal panicled spikes; calyx campanulate, lobes 5; petals 5, connate in the middle; stamens many, monadelphous; ovary superior, ovules many; stigma minute. Fruit a pod, circinate or falcate, moniliform, turgid, dehiscent.