Acacia catechu (L.f.) Willd.

കരിങ്ങാലി

Family : Leguminosae (Mimosoideae)

Synonym : Mimosa catechu L. f.

Common Names : Karingali, Kadiram, Cutch tree, Black catechu, Cutch tree, White kutch

Flowering Period : March-September

Distribution : India and Myanmar

Habitat : Dry deciduous forests

Uses : Catechu, obtained from the heartwood (see Other Uses below) is an indispensible ingredient of 'paan', a slightly narcotic chewing mixture containing betel leaf (Piper betle) and betel palm seed (Areca spp.). The seeds contain water-soluble mucilage (6.8%); they are a good protein source but are nutritionally incomplete with respect to essential amino acids. Black catechu is a bitter-sweet antiseptic and astringent herb, the leaves, young shoots and bark of which are often used to check bleeding and discharges. When boiled, the wood and foliage of the tree produce a dark brown sticky substance known as 'catechu', 'cutch' or 'cachou'. This substance crystallizes upon cooling and has been an important article of trade in medicinal herbs since at least the 16th century, reaching Europe in the 17th century. It contains 25 - 60% tannins, 20 - 30% tannins, flavonoids and resins, and is valued mainly for its astringent qualities and is used both internally and externally to check bleeding and excessive secretions from the mucous membranes. The bark is a rich source of tannins. The wood makes an excellent fuel, and is ideal for making charcoal.

Key Characters :

Deciduous, gregarious trees, to 15 m high; bark dark greyish-brown to dark brown, rough. Leaves bipinnate, alternate, stipulate; pinnae 10-20 pairs, opposite; lamina linear-oblong, margin entire, pubescent. Flowers pale yellow, sessile, in long solitary or in groups of 2-4 axillary spikes; bracts cauducous; calyx cupular-campanulate; corolla lobes oblong, ovate to linear-lanceolate; stamens many; ovary stipitate, oblong-ellipsoid; stigma terminal. Fruit a pod, flat, straight, unlobed or sinuate along margins, thin walled, beaked at apex, brown, narrowed at base into a stipe, dehiscent; seeds 3-10, orbicular or ovate, flattened.