Kannada Name : | Hiretangedi, Simethangadi |
Common Name : | Siamese cassia |
Family Name : | Fabaceae |
Scientific Name : | Senna siamea |
Species Type : | Exotic |
Phenology : | Evergreen |
Conservation Status : | Not known |
Flowering Period : | August - May |
Fruiting Period : | August - May |
Origin : | South Asia |
In traditional medicine, the fruit is used to charm away intestinal worms and to prevent convulsions in children. The heartwood is said to be a laxative, and a decoction is used against scabies.
Evergreen tree, 12-15 m tall, bark greyish brown, smooth, fissured at age, branchlets greenish brown, sparsely puberulent. Leaves pinnate, alternate; leaflets 6-10 pairs, oblong or ovate-oblong, coriaceous, abaxially finely pubescent, adaxially smooth and glabrous, base rounded, apex obtusely rounded, often emarginate, mucronate, margin entire. Inflorescence a raceme. Flowers bisexual, complete, bright yellow, sub persistent bract. Fruit a pod, numerous, long, narrow, flat dark, brown, strap shaped, stipitate, terete to compressed, dehiscent, with septae between the numerous seeds; seeds are bean shaped, shiny, dark.