Albizia amara - Oil cake tree - Flowers of Tamilnadu

❏ Binomial Name : Albizia amara (Roxb.) B.Boivin.

❏ Synonym : Mimosa amara

❏ Family : Leguminosae

❏ Common Name : Krishna Siris, Oil cake tree

❏ Tamil Name : Wunja

❏ Hindi Name : Krishna Siris, Lallei

❏ IUCN status: Not Evaluated

Albizia amara Botanical Description

Much branched trees; to 13 m high; bark thin, surface grey, rough, scaly; blaze yellowish, branchlets brown, pubescent. Leaves bipinnate, alternate, stipulate; stipules minute, free, lateral, lanceolate, cauducous; rachis 3-15 cm, slender, pulvinate, with a gland near the base on the upper side, yellow tomentose; pinnae 3-16 pairs, opposite, even pinnate, 2.5-7 cm, slender, rachis with a bristle at the terminal end, with a gland in between terminal pairs on the upper side or between all pairs; leaflets 20-60, opposite, even pinnate, estipellate, lamina 3-8 x.1-2 mm, sessile, linear, base oblique, apex subacute or obtuse, margin entire, ciliate or glabrous; surface appressed-pubescent or glabrescent, chartaceous; midrib more or less central, rarely towards the distal margin, lateral nerves obscure. Flowers bisexual, white, heads solitary or 2-3 in axillary fascicles, 6-8 mm long; peduncle to 5 cm, slender, densely pubescent; bracts to 5 mm, cauducous; pedicel to 1 mm, puberulous; calyx funnel-shaped, 1-2×1-1.5 mm, puberulous, teeth 5, short; corolla, 3-4 mm long, glabrous except the bearded apex, lobes 5, oblong-lanceolate; stamens many, 1-1.5 cm long, monadelphous at base, tube as long as or slightly shorter than the corolla tube, filaments long exserted; ovary stipitate, pubescent, style filiform, stigma minute. Fruit a pod 10-24 x 2.5-4 cm, flat, greyish-brown, veiny, straight or wavy along margin, base and apex rotund, horned, indehiscent; seeds 6-13, compressed, ovate-orbicular. Fl. &Fr.: March-May.

Albizia amara Medicinal uses:

❀ The tree yields a gum used against ulcers.

❀ A root infusion is drunk to treat pneumonia, tuberculosis, infertility of women and as an aphrodisiac.

❀ The roots are applied externally to treat warts and as a remedy against uterus complaints.

❀ The bark is used to treat jaundice and mouth inflammations.

❀ The leaves are used in the treatment of diarrhoea, oedema and wounds

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