Dalbergia latifolia Roxb. (PAPILIONACEAE)
Common names
Kannada: Beete mara.
Malayalam: Cholavitti.
Tamil: Eravadi.
English: Indian rose wood.
Description: Deciduous trees,10-20 m tall with grey bark. Leaves imparipinnate, 20-25 cm; rachis glabrous; leaflets 5-7, elliptic-orbicular curved to the petiole at base, obtuse or emarginated at apex, glabrous on both sides; petiolules 0.5 – 0.8 cm long. Flowers in axillary or extra axillary corymbose panicles. Calyx 5-lobed, teeth linear oblong, obtuse, glabrous. Petals 5 with long claws, yellowish white. Stamens 9, monadelphous. Ovary stalked, glabrous. The fruit is an undivided elongated pod, measuring approximately 8 by 1.5 centimeters, slightly tapered at both ends, flat, marked with a net-like pattern, and smooth. Typically containing 1 to 3 (occasionally 4) kidney-shaped, black seeds.
Flowering & Fruiting: August – October.
Distribution: India: Western peninsula. Frequent in moist deciduous to semi-evergreen forests of Western Ghats. Indomalesia.
Uses: Wood extremely hard, heavy, the heartwood dark purple with black streaks. It is the rosewood of southern India, chiefly used for furniture and commands a very high price in the market. Leaves used as fodder. Plant bitter tonic, anthelmintic, stomachic, used in diarrhoea, dyspepsia and obsesity.