Adenanthera pavonina

Adenanthera pavonina is an unarmed and deciduous tree.
It grows up to 20-25 meters.
It has a clear bole : the branches usually start to grow high up on a slim and straight trunk, spreading outwards.

Adenanthera pavonina has a rough and dark grey-brown bark with longitudinal fissures whereas the young glabrous branchlets have smooth and red-brown bark.
The wood of Adeanthera pavonina is hard and close-grained, with a red heart-wood.

Adenanthera pavonina has bipinnate compound leaves. These leaves are 15 to 30 cm long with 3 to 6 pairs of opposite pinnae to 10-15 cm long. The leaflets are alternate, numerous (10-20), oblong-elliptic, 2-3 cm long and 1-1.5 cm wide, slightly puberulous. These leaflets have obtuse apex, oblique base and entire margin. They are dark green above and light green below.
The petiole of these compound leaves is about 5-8 cm long and the petiolules are 2 mm long.

The inflorescence of Adenanthera pavonina is a raceme. These axillary and spike-shaped racemes grow from the axils of leaves or at the ends of the branches. They are about 15-20 cm long and 2 cm wide with a 3-5 cm long peduncle.
The flowers are pale yellow, clustered and 6-7 mm across. The pedicels are slender and 3-4 mm long. The calyx is tubular, campanulate and 5-toothed (teeth < 1 mm long). The corolla is composed of 5 pale yellow and lanceolate petals to 4 mm long and 1.5 mm wide.
A flower has 10 free stamens. The filaments are filiform and 3.5 mm long. The anthers are dorsified, 0.7 mm long and tipped with a deciduous gland. The pistil is composed of a flat ovary (containing numerous ovules) and a 2 mm long and filiform style with a simple stigma.
The flowers open from the base to the tip of the inflorescence and they are fragrant.

The fruit of Adenanthera pavonina is a falcate and pointed pod.
The pod is green when unripe and turns dark brown when ripe.
The pods are curved and twisted when dry. The 2 valves are spirally coiled after dehiscence to expose the seeds. They are thin, about 15-20 cm long and 1 cm wide.

The seeds of Adenanthera pavonina are usually bright scarlet, lenticular-globose, compressed, smooth and shiny.
There are 8-12 seeds in a pod and they are about 8 mm across.

Children love to play with the colourful and glossy seeds.

The bark contains saponin and has been used to wash hair and clothing.

In Indonesia and Malaysia trees are planted for shade in coffee, clove and rubber plantations. It is planted along field borders as part of a windbreak. This tree is used as a nitrogen fixing species and as a soil improver.

Adenanthera pavonina wood burns readily, producing significant heat, and is used in both above and below-ground ovens. Good-sized fuelwood, larger than 11 cm in diameter can be produced in 5 years.
The wood yields very good charcoal. (World Agroforestry Centre Database)

It is also extensively cultivated as an ornamental for planting along roadsides and in common areas, notably for its red, glossy seeds.

The leaves of Adenanthera pavonina are used as a supplemental source of cattle fodder.
The leaves are fairly high in digestible crude protein (17-22%) but low in mineral content. (World Agroforestry Centre Database).

Adenanthera pavonina yields medium to heavy hardwood with a density of 595-1100 kg/cubic m at 15% moisture content. The heartwood is bright yellow when fresh, turning red. It is sharply demarcated from the light grey sapwood, which can be up to 5 cm wide. The heartwood is closely and even grained, with a moderately fine to slightly coarse and even texture. The wood is moderately lustrous. The shrinkage is variable, and the wood seasons very well with only slight warping. The wood is very hard, durable and strong. It can be easy or somewhat difficult to work, easy to plane and it takes a high finish. The heartwood is resistant to dry wood termites. The wood is used for bridge and household construction (beams, posts, joists and rafters), flooring, paving blocks and vehicle bodies. It may also be suitable for furniture and cabinet work and turnery. (Benthal, 1946; Clark and Thaman, 1993; Zarnowski et al., 2004)
The wood is sometimes used instead of red sandalwood (Pterocarpus santalinus) for furniture or for wall panels.

The red dye extracted from the wood is used as a substitute for the dye extracted from red sandalwood. It has been used for dyeing clothes and by the Brahmins of India for marking the forehead. (Useful Plants of India and Pakistan, Dastur)

The seeds have been used as beads for rosaries and as unit weights by goldsmiths and jewellers (because of their narrow range in weight), the Malay name "Saga" is traced to the Arabic term for goldsmith.
A useful cement is formed by mixing the powder of the seeds with borax and water.

The gum that exudes from the tree is known as "madatia". (Useful Plants of India and Pakistan, Dastur)

Known as "food tree" in several islands in the Pacific (as Melanesia and Polynesia) the seeds of Adeanthera pavonina are roasted over a fire and eaten by humans and young leaves are eaten as vegetables. (Orwa et al., 2009)
Nutritional studies have shown that 1/4 of the seed weight is oil, with a high percentage of protein and a fatty acid composition, resulting in high digestibility in humans. (Burkill, 1966; Balogun and Fetuga, 1985)
The raw seeds are poisonous. They may require boiling to neutralize toxicity.

The bark and leaves are astringent, vulnerary and aphrodisiac. They are useful in colonorrhea, haematuria, ulcers, pharyngopathy and gout. (Indian Medicinal plants, Arya Vaidya Sala)
A decoction of bark or leaves is also used to treat dysentery, diarrhea and tonsillitis.
A decoction of leaves is used against chronic rheumatism and gout. (Indian Medicinal Plants, Basu & Kirtikar)

The seeds are bitter, astringent, sweet, cooling, aphrodisiac, suppurative, antiemetic and febrifuge. They are useful in gout, burning sensation, hyperdipsia, vomiting, fever and giddiness. (Indian Medicinal plants, Arya Vaidya Sala)
The powdered seeds make a useful external application, hastening suppuration and treating boils.
The seed contains an anti-inflammatory active principle (O-acetylethanolamine) and they are used for the treatment of paralysis. A decoction of seeds is given in pulmonary affections. (Indian Medicinal Plants, An Illustrated Dictionary, C.P. Khare)
The seeds are poisonous but harmless if the red chitinous coat remains unbroken.

The heartwood is astringent, aphrodisiac, haemostatic, and is useful in dysentery, haemorrhages. (Indian Medicinal plants, Arya Vaidya Sala)
Pulverized wood mixed with water is taken orally for migraines and headaches.