Vernacular names:
Nenmenivaka, നെന്മേനിവാക (Malayalam), Oil cake tree (English),
Distribution: India, Sri Lanka and parts of East Africa
Description: Much branched trees; to 13 m high; bark thin, surface grey, rough, scaly; blaze yellowish, branchlets brown, pubescent. Leaves bipinnate, alternate, stipulate; stipules minute, free, lateral, lanceolate; leaflets 20-60, opposite, even pinnate, estipulate, lamina 3-8 x.1-2 mm, sessile, linear, base oblique, apex subacute or obtuse, margin entire, ciliate or glabrous. Flowers bisexual, white, heads solitary or 2-3 in axillary fascicles. Fruit a pod 10-24 x 2.5-4 cm, flat, greyish-brown, veiny, straight or wavy along margin, base and apex rotund, horned, indehiscent; seeds 6-13, compressed, ovate-orbicular.
Habit: Tree
Habitat: Dry deciduous forests and also planted
Flowering & Fruiting: June-January
Parts used: Bark
Properties & Uses: The fruit pods are emetic. They are used in the treatment of malaria and coughs. A root infusion is drunk to treat pneumonia, tuberculosis, infertility of women and as an aphrodisiac. The roots are applied externally to treat warts and as a remedy against uterus complaints. The bark is used to treat jaundice and mouth inflammations.