| Type | Indigenous |
|---|---|
| Family | Caesalpinioidae |
| Local Name | Mandaram |
| Local Name 2 | Malayathi |
| Habit | Small sized tree |
| Tree Seed | Fruit type: Pod. Seed weight: 6,440 to 8,000 seeds/kg (Sen Gupta, 1937; Kumar and Bhanja, 1992; Kindt et al., 1997; Chacko et al., 2002). Vernacular name: Mandaram, Mala-athi (Malayalam), Vattaatti, Archi, Arais (Tamil), Makuna, Dhorana, Amli (Hindi) (Chacko et al., 2002); Kachnal (Hindi) (Bose et al., 1998). Flowering season: March to June (Bose et al., 1998). Fruiting season: Ripens during November to December, January to March (Sen Gupta, 1937; Chacko et al., 2002). Germination type: Epigeous (FRI, 1983; Chacko et al., 2002). Germination percentage: 27 to 95 (FRI, 1983; Chacko et al., 2002); 60 to 95. Method of propagation: By seeds. |
| Botanical Features | Deciduous trees, bark grey to black, rough, thinly scaly, with numerous vertical cracks; blaze pinkish-red, turning brown on exposure. Leaves simple, bilobed, alternate; stipules small, cauducous; petiole 10-33 mm long, slender, pubescent, swollen at base and at tip; leaves 2-5 x 3.5-11 cm, broader than long, ovate-orbicular, base cordate, apex obtuse, bilobed and mucronate at cleft, margin entire, glabrous above, pubescent beneath, coriaceous; 7-9 nerves from the base, palmate, prominent, intercostae reticulate, prominent. Flowers bisexual, 10-12 mm across, yellowish-white, in terminal and leaf opposed few flowered racemes; fruit a pod 15-22 x 1.5-2 cm, oblong, blackish-brown, turgid, apex horned indehiscent; seeds 10-20, ovoid. |
| Habit |   |