Author: (DC.) K. Heyne
Morphological description (pterocarpum Peltoph compl FT12 )
Tree up to 35 m high and 80(-100) cm in diameter, deciduous, unarmed; young shoots ferrugineous pubescent or tomentose, glabrescent.
Leaves bipinnate, (pterocarpum Peltoph comp FM41 , see also pterocarpum Peltop lv/po 139544 ) rachis up to 26 cm and petiole up to 10 cm; pinnae 4-14 pairs. Stipules small, linear, not branched, caducous. Leaflets (8-)10-15(-22) pairs per pinna, sessile, oblong, 10-20 by 3-10 mm, obtuse, rounded or slightly emarginate at the apex, unequally acute or attenuate, or rounded at the base; nearly glabrous above, finely pubescent, glabrescent beneath.
Inflorescences terminal and axillary, paniculate, up to 40 cm long, densely ferruginous pubescent (pterocarpum Peltoph infl 256097); bracts minute, deltoid, 5-8 mm long, caducous; pedicels usually 5-7 mm.
Flower : (pterocarpum Peltoph fl 256098 )Calyx lobes slightly triangular, 5-8 by 5-6 mm, pubescent outside. Petals bright yellow, obovate, 17-25 by 10-13 mm, densely hairy towards the basal part. Stamens : filaments 12-15 mm; anthers 3 mm long. Ovary stipitate, hairy, 3- or 4-ovuled.
Pods oblong-elliptic, up to 14 by c. 2.5 cm (incl. the wing-like margin), acute at the apex, tapering towards the base, often slightly constricted between seeds (for pods with 2 or more seeds), longitudinally striate, pubescent, glabrescent or almost glabrous, the wing-like margin 4-5 mm wide, 1-4-seeded (pterocarpum Peltoph pod 2560100 ;pterocarpum Peltop lv/po 139544).
Seeds oblong, flat, 10-12 by 5 mm, light brown, longitudinally positioned in the pod (pterocarpum Peltoph seed 256099 ).
Distribution
Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, S Vietnam; throughout Malesia to northern Australia.
Habitat and ecology
Frequently growing along beaches and behind the mangroves, often in lowland, open forests, occasionally found on limestone plateau. Fl. and fr. all the year round.
Uses
Widely introduced and cultivated in the tropics. Planted as a shade tree in plantations and as a very attractive ornamental in parks and along roadsides. Barks used for dyes and for various medicinal purposes. See Burkill. 1935: 1715; Heyne, 1950: 755.