Author: Linnaeus
Morphological description (Dialum indum compl FM30 )
Trees , occasionally shrubby. Stipules small, very early caducous.
Leaves unifoliolate or imparipinnate, petiole and rachis without conspicuous glands. Leaflets generally alternate, margin entire.
Inflorescences paniculate, terminal or axillary, often in fascicles; bracts not observed, bracteoles very early caducous.
Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic. Hypanthium concave or narrow. Disc absent in Malesian species. Sepals 5 or 3. Petals usually none, sometimes (not in Malesia ) 1, 3, or 5. Stamens 2 or 6 (in Malesia); anthers basifixed, longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary sessile or shortly stipitate; style ± as long as the ovary; stigma small, punctiform to slightly swollen; ovules (1 or) 2.
Pods indehiscent; exocarp usually brittle, sometimes firm; mesocarp pulpy.
Seeds 1 (or 2), usually reniform, albuminous; testa smooth.
Distribution
Pantropical genus of 27 species, not in Australia and the Pacific Islands. In Malesia absent from the islands East of Borneo and Java.
Habitat
In primary and old secondary forests, at low and medium altitudes, in Malesia up to 1150 m.
Taxonomy
The genus is divided into three subgenera, of which one, subgenus Arouna , is not represented in the Malesian area.
Uses
The heartwood gives a good general-purpose timber, known as Keranji . See Rojo & Alonzo (1993: 161-166).
Fruits (at least those of Dialium indum and D. platysepalum ) are edible, but of slight importance. See Burkill (1935: 798-800); Heyne (1950: 737-739), and Verheij & Coronel (1991: 375 (list only)).