Kingiodendron pinnatum (Roxb. ex DC) Harms - FABACEAE-CAESALPINIOIDEAE

Synonym : Hardwickia pinnata Roxb. ex DC

Vernacular names : Tamil: Kolavu, Koda palai, Madayan samprani.  Malayalam:  Chukannapayini, Ennappayin, Kiyavu, Koda pala, Kulavu, Shurali.  Kannada: Chou paini, Enne mara, Yenna mara.

English   Kannada   Malayalam   Tamil   

Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Trees up to 35 m tall.
Trunk & Bark : Bark grey and flaky; blaze pink.
Branches and Branchlets : Branchlets slender, terete, glabrous.
Exudates : Oily resin from cut wood.
Leaves : Leaves compound, imparipinnate, alternate, distichous; stipules caducous; rachis pulvinate, terete, 6-10 cm long; petiolule 0.3-0.7 cm long, with short, subulate gland like structure at the base of terminal leaflet; leaflets 4-7, alternate, lamina 4.5-9 x 1.7-4.5 cm, asymmetric-falcate or narrow ovate-elliptic to narrow oblong, apex caudate-acuminate, base rounded or acute, margin entire, chartaceous, obscurely pellucid punctate; midrib slightly raised; secondary_nerves ca. 10 pairs; tertiary_nerves reticulate.
Inflorescence / Flower : Inflorescence panicled racemes; flowers small, numerous, white.
Fruit and Seed : Pod, ellipsoid or oblong to 3.5 x 3 cm, flattened towards pedicel, beaked, coriaceous; seed solitary, compressed.

Ecology :

Canopy tree in low elevation wet evergreen forests up to 900 m.

Distribution :

Endemic to the Western_Ghats- South Sahyadri and Central Sahyadri (up to Coorg Region).

Literatures :

Engler & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenf. 1: 194. 1897; Gamble, Fl. Madras 1: 412. 1997 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 156. 2004; Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 1: 391. 1996.

Top of the Page