Tamarindus indica

• Botanical Name : Tamarindus indica L.
• Common Name : Tamarind Tree, Amli, Chineli
• Plant Family : Caesalpiniaceae
• Plant Form : Tree
• Occurrence (Sectors) : 10, 29
• Occurrence (Special Areas) : Gujarat Forestry Research Foundation, Van Chetana Kendra, Basan, Aranya Van

About Tamarindus indica Plant :

• Habit : A large tree.
• Leaves : Paripinnate compound, leaflets 10-20 pairs, oblong, obtuse, stipules linear, caducous.
• Flowers :
  • Flowers in few flowered terminal racemes pedicels articulated below the calyx, bracts concave, bracteoles small.
  • Calyx conelike, segments 4, unequal, oblong, obtuse.
  • Petals 5, 3 unequal, the other 2 rudimentary, obovate-oblong, yellow with pink-red stripes. Stamens 10, 3 fertile, united above half way up, the rest rudimentary, as small scales or bristles. Ovary stalked, ovules 8, 12 or more, stigma capitate.
• Fruit :
  • Pod curved, indehiscent, with a tuft, scaly epicarp and an edible pulpy, acid mesocarp.
  • Seeds 3-12, obovate-oblong, truncate.
• Flowering and Fruiting Time : May - July
• Significance :
  • Cultivated for its edible fruits.
  • The bark is used for loss of sensation in paralysis.
  • The leaves are applied on inflammation.