Herbarium JCB

Cassia fistula L.

Family : FABACEAE
Family (As per The Plant List) : Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
Subfamily : Caesalpinioideae
Species : Cassia fistula
Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Cassia fistula L.
Common name : Indian Laburnum, Golden Shower, Purging fistula
Vernacular name : Aragwadha (San.); Sonhali, Amalthus (Hin.); Kakke mara, Konde mara (Kan.)
Collection Nos : KFP 481, KFP 11050
Collector(s) Name : S.B.Manohar & B.Gurudev Singh
Key identification features : A medium-sized ornamental tree with small spreading canopy. Bark is copper brown in colour, more or less smooth, crusty when old and exfoliating. Leaves are pinnately compound with large leaflets. Flowers are about 3 cm across, bright yellow in arrestingly beautiful drooping sprays. Fruit is a long, indehiscent, cylindrical pod with numerous seeds.
Habit : Tree
Native : India, China, South-east Asia
Comments : Common in deciduous to semi-evergreen forests. Also, planted in gardens. The fruit pulp is a strong purgative.
Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
Collection Locality : M.M.Hills (Chamarajnagar)
Distribution Locality : Bagalkot, Bangalore, Belgaum, Bellary, Bidar, Bijapur, Chamrajnagar, Chikamagalur, Chikkaballapur, Chitradurga, Dakshina Kannada, Davanagere, Dharwad, Gadag, Gulbarga, Hassan, Haveri, Kodagu, Kolar, Koppal, Mandya, Mysore, Raichur, Ramanagara, Shimoga, Tumkur, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Yadgir
Floras referred : Saldanha & Nicolson, 1976 - Hassan; Gowda, 2004 - Sringeri; Ramaswamy & Razi, 1973 - Bangalore; Seetharam et al., 2000 - Gulbarga; Rao & Razi, 1981 - Mysore; Keshava Murthy & Yoganarasimhan, 1990 - Coorg; Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2003 - Udupi; Manjunath et al., 2003 - Davanagere