835

Radermachera xylocarpa (Roxb.) Roxb. ex K.Schum.

Synonym	:	Bignonia xylocarpa Roxb.
Family	:	Bignoniaceae
Local name	:	Malayalam - Kattumuringa
Flowering and fruiting period	:	March-April
Distribution	:	Peninsular India
Distribution in Kerala	:	Palakkad, Kollam, Idukki, Pathanamthitta, Malappuram, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Wayanad, Kozhikode
Habitat	:	Dry and moist deciduous forests
Endemic/Exotic	:	Peninsular India
Uses	:	The plant resin is used in the treatment of skin diseases.
Key Botanical Characters: Deciduous trees; bark light greyish-brown. Leaves compound, bipinnate or tripinnate, opposite, estipulate; rachis 24-50 cm long, stout; pinnae 7-9, leaflets 3-9 in each pinnae, opposite; lamina elliptic-lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate or ovate; base oblique or acute; apex acute or acuminate; margin entire. Flowers bisexual, white, tinged with yellow, fragrant, in terminal panicled cymes, calyx campanulate, irregularly 5 lobed; corolla campanulate, bilabiate, lobes subequal, obtuse, crisped, glabrous; stamens 4, didynamous, anthers divaricate; staminodes filiform; ovary oblong, glabrous, superior; ovules many; style slender; stigma spoon shaped. Fruit a capsule, elongate, warty tubercled, woody, bivalved, dissepiments spongy, slightly curved; seeds winged.