Albizia lebbeck (L.) Benth. (MIMOSACEAE)
Common names
Kannada: Baage.
Malayalam: Vaga.
Tamil: Vagei.
Telugu: Dirasana.
Description: Tall deciduous trees, reaching heights of 15-20 meters, characterized by their light-colored bark. Leaves abruptly bipinnate; rachis ca 10 cm long with a gland near base of petiole and one below uppermost pair of pinnae; pinnae usually 2 pairs; leaflets 3-4 pairs, obliquely oblong, ca 4 x 2.5 cm, truncate or rounded at base, retuse or obtuse at apex, shining, glabrous above, pubescent and reticulately veined beneath. Flowers in globose heads, white, pedicelled; heads 1-few, fascicled. Calyx tubular, 5-lobed. Corolla 5-lobed, white, tube glabrous, lobes triangular, acute. Stamens numerous, much longer than the corolla; filaments connate at the base into a short tube. Ovary sessile; style filiform; stigma minute, capitate. Fruit a dehiscing pod, strap-shaped, ca 35 x 4 cm, flat, blunty pointed, thin, pale yellow. Seeds 4-12, ellipsoid-oblong, compressed, pale brown.
Flowering & Fruiting: January – April.
Distribution: India: Throughout, often planted and run wild. Tropical and subtropical Asia and Africa.
Uses:
- Wood light, dark brown and streaked. It is excellent for furniture, internal decoration, paneling and railway carriage work. It is useful for construction purposes, agricultural implements, oil-presses and cane crushers. It is also useful for making carts and carriages, for well-curbs, carvings etc. It is a good fuel wood. A reddish brown gum exudes from the bark which is adulterated with gum arabic and is used for the same purpose as the latter. The bark contain tannin used to tan fishing nets.
- The leaves and twigs are lopped for fodder. Often planted as a roadside tree. It is grown for shade in tea and coffee plantations, and the shed leaves make a good manure. Leaves and seeds used in eye troubles; bark for boils. In Ayurveda bark, leaf, flower and seed are used for treating leprosy, erysipelas, wounds, cough, dyspnoea and as antidote for snakebites, food and other poisoning. The bark is recognized for its anti-inflammatory properties and is incorporated into Ayurvedic formulations such as “Mahashirishagada” and “Sirisharista.”