The Leaves are bipinnate, 15-18 inches long, with opposite, pinnate leaflets bearing numerous dark green pinnules, oblique, ¾ inch long, alternate but nearly opposite towards the tip. They have a shining surface, and the young leaf is reddish.
The Flowers are pendulous balls some 2½ inches in diameter on a 7 inch stalk. They appear in March before the new leaves or with them and are dark red in colour and sweet-scented. They consist of 10 long, red stamens with black anthers and a simple style, in a 5-lobed calyx with honey glands. The flowers are visited both by bees and flies. Called “tutu” by the native, boys suck the balls for the honey. The flower-buds are called “gundar tutu.”
The Fruit is a bean, some 9 inches long, dark brown in colour, in pendulous clusters on the tree in July. When young they are called “sabada”; when brown, but before ripening, they are called “garda.” The ripe seeds are black and embedded in a yellow, mealy pulp. They are of great value as an annual food-crop.
Uses.—The timber is used for making mortars and basins. The seeds are fermented and made into cakes called “daudawa.”
The husks are soaked in water till fermentation takes place and the resulting liquid spread over earth floors and on the walls of dye-pits to bind the surface. The liquid is called “makuba” and is also used as a fish poison.
The branches are cut for fuel for the boiling of the water used in the purification of women after child-birth.
The mealy pulp round the seeds (garin dorowa) is used in soup.
An infusion of the bark is a tonic.
