• Family : MIMOSACEAE
  (Pea Or Bean Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : BABOOL FAMILY (बबूल फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : LEGUMINOSAE
• Subfamily : Mimosoideae
• Basionym : Mimosa dulcis Roxb.
• Synonym(s) : Inga dulcis (Roxb.) Willd.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Pithecellobium dulce (Roxb.) Benth.
• Common name : Manila Tamarind, Sweet Tamarind, Blackbead, Madras thorn, Monkeypod, Guamuchil, Guayamochil
• Vernacular name : Vilayati Babul, Vilayati imli, Jangle-jalebi (Hindi); Seeme hunase, Parmunche kaayi mara (Kannada); Karapilly, Kodukkapuli Kodukkaaipuli (Tamil); Simachinta (Telugu); Simakoina (Oria); Vilayati chinch (Marathi); Kodakapuli, Korukkapuli (Malayalam)
• Habit : Tree
• Habitat : Deciduous forests, also planted in gardens
• Comments / notes : Introduced in plains to 1400m. Cultivated in tropics, sometime self sown.
• Key identification features : A thorny tree; flowers in globose heads; pod coilled; aril of seed edible.
• Flower, Fruit : December-July
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : West Godavari district, West Godavari district, Chittoor district, Kurnool district, Kadapa district, Anantapur district, Vishakapatnam district
  • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
  • Maharashtra : Akola district
  • Odisha : Kandhamal district
  • Tamil Nadu : Coimbatore district, Kanchipuram (Changalpattu-CGP) district, Vellore district, Tiruvannamalai district, Tirunelveli district, Tiruchirapalli district, Dharmapuri district, Salem district, Villipuram district, Cuddalore district
• Native : Tropical America
• World Distribution : Cultivated Tropics of the World
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Pullaiah et al., 2001 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 2; H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1994- Flora of Orissa Vol. 1; R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District; R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District; N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka; Matthew, K.M., Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI; Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1.
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Pithecellobium dulce. Downloaded on 2 April 2025.

Botanical Description

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