Rain Tree

Rain Tree

Family : Fabaceae

Characteristic features :

Habit : Tree

Stem : 10-25 m tall. Branchlets puberulent to tomentose.

Leaf : Petiole 15-40 cm; pinnae 3-5(or 6) pairs, to 15 cm; glands at junctions of pinnae and leaflets; leaflets 3-8 pairs per pinna, asymmetrically oblong, 2-4 × 1-1.8 cm, abaxially pubescent, adaxially shiny, base half rounded, half truncate, apex rounded or obtuse, often emarginate and mucronulate.

Flower : Heads 1-5, to­gether axillary, 5-6 cm in diam.; peduncles 5-6 cm. Marginal flowers pedicellate; calyx funnel-shaped, ca. 6 mm; corolla red or yellowish red, ca. 1.2 cm; stamens white at base, purple toward apex, ca. 3.5 cm; staminal tube shorter than corolla tube. Central flowers sessile; corolla to 1.2 cm; staminal tube longer than corolla.

Fruit : Legume black, oblong, compressed, 10-20 × 1.2-2.5 cm, sutures thickened, septate between seeds.

Seeds : brown, ellipsoidal, ca. 8 × 5 mm. Fl. Aug-Sep, fr. Dec.