443

Kingiodendron pinnatum (Roxb. ex DC.) Harms

Synonym	:	Hardwickia pinnata Roxb.
Family	:	Fabaceae
Local name	:	Malayalam- Malabar mahagony
Flowering and fruiting period	:	February-December
Distribution	:	Southern Western Ghats
Distribution in Kerala	:	Kollam, Idukki, Thrissur, Kozhikkode, Thiruvananthapuram, Palakkad, Wayanad, Kannur
Habitat	:	Evergreen forests
IUCN status	:	Endangered (EN)
Endemic/Exotic	:	Endemic to the Southern Western Ghats
Uses	:	It is being used by tribes for gonorrhoea, catarrhal conditions of genito-urinary and respiratory tracts and in curing sores in elephants.
Key botanical characters:   Evergreen trees, to 30 m high, bark 5-8 mm thick, surface greyish-brown with green blotches, rough; exuding a reddish sticky resin. Leaves imparipinnate, alternate; leaflets 5-9, alternate, 4.5-10.5 x 2-4.5 cm, ovate-lanceolate or oblong, apex acuminate, falcate or oblique, margin entire, glabrous, coriaceous; stipules minute, lateral, cauducous; rachis 10-15.2 cm, slender, pulvinate, glabrous; petiolule 5-10 mm, stout, grooved above, glabrous; lateral nerves 8-13,pinnate, slender, prominent, secondary laterals present, intercostae reticulate, prominent. Flowers bisexual, 2-3 mm across, white, in axillary and terminal panicled racemes. Calyx tube almost wanting, lobes 5, broadly ovate, imbricate. Petals 0; disc very small. Stamens 10, equal, filaments filiform, villous at base; anthers versatile. Ovary half inferior, sessile, villous at base; ovules 2; style subulate; stigma minute, oblique. Fruit a pod, 4-5 x 2-2.5 cm, ovate-ellipsoid, turgid, obtusely beaked, prominently veined, dark brown, indehiscent; seed one, pendulous.