The Leaves are 12-15 inches long, pinnate, with 3-5 pairs of opposite leaflets and a terminal leaflet. The leaflets are obovate with broad tip and small point, and are increasingly longer and larger from below upwards, the lowest pair about 2½ inches long and 1½ inches broad, the upper pair 4-5 inches long and 2-2½ inches broad, the terminal as broad, but not so long. The nerves are prominent beneath but grooved above. The colour is light green and shining, smooth beneath. The margins may be serrate, the teeth quite sharp, or may be quite entire.
The Flowers are in panicles up to 4 feet in length hanging from the branches in February to April. The short flower stalks are curved, the calyx is fleshy, 4-lobed and pale green, and the corolla has a trumpet-shaped tube some 3 inches long, ending in a large, reddish-purple, wrinkled and lobed mouth on the lower side of which lie the 4 stamens and pistil with flattened stigma. The outside of the curved tubular portion is white with reddish lines, and the shape and length of this tube decides the species. There is an unpleasant odour to the flower. The corolla falls entire with the stamens attached.
The Fruit is like an elongated marrow, 12-20 inches long and 3-4 inches broad, greyish in colour with a slightly rough skin. The apex is pointed. Scattered about in the fibrous pulp are a number of small seeds which are let loose by the rotting of the fruit, which takes a long time to mature.
LONCHOCARPUS GRIFFONIANUS Dunn.—Tuburku. LEGUMINOSAE.
This is a large deciduous tree which extends up to 11° by way of the streams and “kurmis” and which, below that latitude will grow away, though not far, from their influence. It attains a height of 60 feet with a girth of 8 feet or more and has an enormous spreading crown with drooping twigs and delicate pinnate foliage which gives heavy shade. Bole lengths of 30 feet are seen in close forest and in the open there may be a number of stems from the ground level or near it. The pods, like strips of tanned leather, are the most distinctive feature, as they persist for some time.
The Bark is smooth, with small, very thin, close-fitting scales which remain attached by their centres before falling. The colour is grey or light brown. The slash is pale yellow, soft and thick.
The Wood is whitish-grey. In transverse section the rings are indistinct lines, the pores are very irregular festoons, dense on some zones and single and scattered in the rings. The rays are very fine and close and much waved, and are visible as a fine stippling in vertical sections. In vertical section the pores are open and their brown colour adds a tint to the wood. It is soft, very easy to work with all tools, the planed surface having a slight sheen. Weight 40 lbs. a cubic foot.
The Leaves are pinnate, 9-10 inches long with three to four pairs and a terminal leaflet. The main stalk is very slender and those of the leaflets very short. The leaflets are obovate, with a tongued tip, the lowest pair rounded, the intermediate pairs narrower and the terminal larger and broader. The upper surface is dark and shiny, the under side paler and smooth. The mid-rib is prominent beneath and slightly sunken above. There is a marked contrast between the colour of the leaflet stalks and the under side of the leaflets when viewed from beneath.