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Albizia amara
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Family:
FABACEAE/LEGUMINOSAE (Subfam.: Mimosoideae)
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Citation: Albizia amara (Roxb.) Boivin, Encycl. 19: 34. 1838; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 2: 301. 1878; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 432(306). 1919; Sanjappa, Legumes Ind. 54. 1992; Chakrab. & Gangop., Journ. Econ. Tax. Bot. 20: 583. 1996; Sasidh., Fl. Chinnar WLS 119. 1999.
Mimosa amara Roxb., Pl. Corom. 1. 122. 1799.
Acacia amara (Roxb.) Willd., Sp. Pl. 4: 1074. 1806.
Acacia wightii Graham ex Wight & Arn., Prodr. 274. 1834.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Chalavagai, Nenmenivaka, Oonjal, Varacchi
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Oil cake tree
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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.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
June-January
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District(s):
Idukki, Kannur, Palakkad
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Medicinal:
Yes
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Habitat:
Dry deciduous forests
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Distribution:
India, Sri Lanka and parts of East Africa
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Aquatic:
No
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Epiphyte(s):
No
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Saprophyte:
No
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Stem parasite:
No
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Root parasite:
No
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Flower colour(s):
White
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Weed:
No
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Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
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Exotic:
No
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Garden:
No
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Edible:
No
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Vegetable:
No
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Endemic to:
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IUCN status:
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Altitude:
-1300
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Localities:
Chinnar, Champakkad, Begur
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