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Cassia fistula L.
Synonym : Bactyrilobium fistula Wild.
Sub family
: Caesalpinioideae
Local Names
: Kannikonna, Golden shower,
Indian laburnum
Flowering and
fruiting period:
February – September
Distribution: Indo-Malaysia
Habitat: Moist deciduous forests, widely
planted as ornamental plant
IUCN status: Least concern
Endemic: No
Uses: The sweet blackish pulp of the
seedpod is used as a mild laxative. Used for road-side plantations because of
its excellent yellow shower flower. Wood is used for agricultural implements.
The bark is used for tanning and dyeing. The pulp of the fruit furnishes an
excellent and safe purgative, useful in chest and heart diseases
Key Characters Cassia fistula is an deciduous trees with surface pale when young,
dark grey when old, smooth, exfoliating in hard scales. Leaves paripinnate,
alternate, leaflets opposite, ovate, margin entire, pulvinate. Flowers
bisexual, yellow, in axillary drooping racemes. Calyx tube short, lobes 5,
ovate. Petals 5, obovate. Stamens 10, all fertile; upper 3 short with erect
filaments; anthers basifixed; lower 3
large with curved filaments, anthers dorsifixed. Ovary half inferior,
