Kingiodendron pinnatum (DC.) Harms (CEASALPINIACEAE)
Common names
Kannada: Enne mara.
Malayalam: Kodapalla.
Tamil: Kodapalai, Madayanasambrani.
English: Malabar mahogany.
Description: Evergreen trees up to 20 m tall with dark brown bark. Leaves alternate, odd- pinnate; leaf rachis ca 12 cm long; leaflets 5-7, elliptic – oblong, ca 10 x 4 cm, rounded at base, acute to acuminate at apex; petioles ca 6 mm long. Flowers small, in axillary and terminal dense racemes arranged in panicles, white. Sepals 5, orbicular, petaloid, gland-dotted. Petals 0. Stamens 10; filaments twice as long as the sepals; anthers versatile. The ovary is sessile and 1-locular. The fruit is a woody, dark brown pod, obovate, measuring approximately 4 x 2.5 cm. It contains a single, compressed seed.
Flowering & Fruiting: April – August.
Distribution: India: Occasional in evergreen forests of Western Ghats, up to 1000 m. Endemic. A threatened species.
Uses: Wood dark red or reddish brown with a sticky resin, used for beams, rafters, battens, ceiling boards, flooring and furniture. It has been used for cordite cases, bowls and croquet balls and is suitable for billiards tables, cue handles, cabinet work and ornamental veneers. It is considered suitable for plywood. Oleo-gum-resin used in gonorrhoea, catarrhal conditions of genito-urinary and respiratory tracts. It is also used in sores of elephants.