Tamarindus indica L.

Taxonomy: Plantae > Tracheophyta > Equisetopsida > Fabales > Fabaceae > Tamarindus > T. indica

Description: Trees, to 20 m high, bark brown to brownish-black, rough with vertical fissures; branchlets warty, tomentose. Leaves paripinnate, alternate; stipules lateral, minute, cauducous; rachis 8-13 cm long, slender, glabrous, pulvinate; leaflets 20-34, opposite, sessile, estipellate; lamina 1.5-4 x 0.4-1.3 cm, oblong, base unequal, apex obtuse, margin entire, glabrous, chartaceous; lateral nerves 10-15 pairs, pinnate, slender, obscure, looped at the margin forming intramarginal nerve; intercostae reticulate, obscure. Flowers bisexual, 1 cm across, yellow with reddish-pink dots, in lax terminal racemes; bracts and bracteoles ovate-oblong, coloured, cauducous; pedicels upto 5 mm; calyx tube narrowly turbinate, lined by disc; lobes 4, subequal, oblong, imbricate; petals 3, outer one, 1 x 0.3 cm, rolled up, pink dotted, lateral 2, 1-1.5 x 0.7-1 cm, clawed, subequal, oblong-lanceolate, lower pair scaly; stamens 9 monadelphous, only 3 fertile, others reduced to bristle, base pubescent; anthers versatile; ovary half inferior, stipitate, adnate to the disc, ovules many; style attenuate, tomentose; stigma globose. Fruit a pod 10-15 x 1-2 cm, oblong, fruit wall crustaceous, mesocarp pulpy, endocarp septate, leathery, indehiscent; seeds 3-8 or more, obovoid-orbicular, compressed, brown.

Flowering and fruiting: Flowering: April-June. Fruiting: October-December

Uses: The fruit is eaten raw or dried. Jams and jellies are also prepared along with pickles or eaten as chutneys or curries. Tender leaves are eaten as vegetables to make special tangy curries. The wood is used to make furniture

Cultivation: Cultivated

References

http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org

https://indiabiodiversity.org