Pongamia pinnata (L.) Pierre

 
  • Family : FABACEAE
    (PEA OR BEAN FAMILY)
  • Family (as per The Plant List) : Leguminosae
  • Subfamily : Faboideae
  • Species : Pongamia pinnata
  • Synonym : Pongamia glabra Vent.; Derris indica (Lam.) Benn.; Galedupa indica Lam.
  • Basionym : Cytisus pinnatus L.
  • Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Pongamia pinnata (L.) Pierre
  • Common name : Indian Elm, Pongam Oil Tree, Indian Beech Tree
  • Vernacular name : Kanji, Karanj (Hin.); Hongemara (Kan.); Pungam (Tam.); Gaanuga, Kanuga, Pungu (Tel.); Karanjo (Ori.); Karanja (San.)
  • Key identification features : A medium-sized deciduous tree. Leaves are imparipinnate with 2-3 pairs of broad leaflets, often seen with two kinds of galls: on leaves and on inflorescences. Flowers are in short clusters, pea-like and whitish-pink. Fruit is a flattened, oval, woody pod that dehisces at the both ends. Bark is smoke-grey and smooth.
  • Habit : Tree
  • Flower, Fruit : February-October
  • Native : South-East Asia
  • Comments : Occasional in plains to 1000 m mostly by banks of rivers and in ravines. Often planted. Seeds are a good source of Biofuel.
  • Conservation Status : Least Concern (LC)
  • Distribution Locality : Throughout Eastern Ghats
  • World Distribution : India, Himalaya, Sri lanka, Myanmar, Malaysia, Northern Australia, Polynesia, Mascarene Islands, Micronesia; Introduced in New World
  • Literature : Pullaiah et al., 2001 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 2; J.L.Ellis, 1987- Flora of Nallamalais Vol. 1; H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1994- Flora of Orissa Vol. 1 ; R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District; H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipal, Orissa; IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. ; N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka; Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983.
  • Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Arun Singh R., Deepak Kumar, Raja K Swamy and Navendu Page (2016). Digital Flora of Eastern Ghats. http://easternghats.ces.iisc.ernet.in/plants.php?name=Pongamia pinnata. Downloaded on 29 June 2024.

Description

Line Drawings

Field Images

Comments

All fields are required






 
Creative Commons License
Digital Flora of Eastern Ghats by Herbarium JCB is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://easternghats.ces.iisc.ernet.in.