Tamarindus indica - Tamarind Tree

❏ Binomial Name : Tamarindus indica L.

❏ Synonym : Tamarindus occidentalis,Tamarindus officinalis,Tamarindus umbrosa

❏ Family : Leguminosae

❏ Common Name : Tamarind Tree

❏ Tamil Name : Puliyamaram

❏ Hindi Name : Imli

❏ IUCN status : Not Evaluated

Tamarindus indica Botanical Description

Trees, to 20 m high, bark brown to brownish-black, rough with vertical fissures; branchlets warty, tomentose. Leaves paripinnate, alternate; stipules lateral, minute, cauducous; rachis 8-13 cm long, slender, glabrous, pulvinate; leaflets 20-34, opposite, sessile, estipellate; lamina 1.5-4 x 0.4-1.3 cm, oblong, base unequal, apex obtuse, margin entire, glabrous, chartaceous; lateral nerves 10-15 pairs, pinnate, slender, obscure, looped at the margin forming intramarginal nerve; intercostae reticulate, obscure. Flowers bisexual, 1 cm across, yellow with reddish-pink dots, in lax terminal racemes; bracts and bracteoles ovate-oblong, coloured, cauducous; pedicels upto 5 mm; calyx tube narrowly turbinate, lined by disc; lobes 4, subequal, oblong, imbricate; petals 3, outer one, 1 x 0.3 cm, rolled up, pink dotted, lateral 2, 1-1.5 x 0.7-1 cm, clawed, subequal, oblong-lanceolate, lower pair scaly; stamens 9 monadelphous, only 3 fertile, others reduced to bristle, base pubescent; anthers versatile; ovary half inferior, stipitate, adnate to the disc, ovules many; style attenuate, tomentose; stigma globose. Fruit a pod 10-15 x 1-2 cm, oblong, fruit wall crustaceous, mesocarp pulpy, endocarp septate, leathery, indehiscent; seeds 3-8 or more, obovoid-orbicular, compressed, brown. Fl. &Fr.: September-April.

Tamarindus indica Medicinal uses

❀ The tender leaves and fruits are made into a chutney

❀ Children are fond of eating the flowers and leaves.

❀ Jams and jellies are also prepared along with pickles or eaten as chutneys or curries

❀ The wood is used to make furniture

❀ People used the fruit as a poultice applied to foreheads for treating fevers.

❀They are also used for treatment of stomach ailments such as abdominal pain, diarrhea and constipation

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