General characteristics
A height of 20.m with a spreading crown and a cylindrical straight bole of 9 m length and 1.2 – 1.5 m girth. The bark is dark brown, exfoliating in thin, narrow strips with broad, shallow, longitudinal cracks. Leaves bi-pinnate or occasionally tri-pinnate. Leaflets ovate – Lanceolate to ovate round, entire or crenulate; flowers greenish white, fragrant, intense panicles; fruit an ovoid or ellipsoid drupe with 5 or less seeds.
Distribution
It occurs in tropical moist deciduous forests, and yields a useful timber. It occurs in Sikkim Himalayas, North Bengal and upper Assam, Khasi hills of Orissa, N.Circars, Deccan and Western Ghats at altitudes of 1,500 – 1,800 m.
It is occasionally planted for ornament and makes a handsome avenue tree and a shade tree in plantations. It grows rapidly and is used for afforestation purposes
Environmental requirements
It grows on variety of soils .However deep fertile sandy loam soils shows optimum growth, while shallow gravelly soils shows stunt growth. The tree is a light demand-er the seedling are suppressed under shade. Seedlings tolerate some frost but severe frost kills them. It is susceptible to damage by fires and sapling suffers from browsing.
Silvicultural characteristics
Natural propagation
Natural propagation is mostly through seeds and the germ inability is less. It coppices well and produce root suckers when the roots are injured. It pollards well and clusters of new shoots are thrown out from dormant buds on stems and branches.
Artificial propagation:
It can be raised either by direct sowing or planting in nursery for raising seedlings or stumps. Direct sowing is recorded to give poorer results than planting of sampling or stumps; the latter is considered the best.
Seed treatment:
Seeds are collected from ripened fruits (Jan – Feb) by rubbing, washing and drying and are stored in sealed tins. The germinability of the seed is less than 25%. In nursery, the seeds are sown in raised nursery beds. The best seed treatment is treating the seeds with cowdung solution for one day. Then the treated seeds are sown over the raised nursery bed. It takes one or two months for the seeds to germinate. Irrigation should be done regularly. The seedling takes 6 months to complete its nursery stage.
Espacement
Six to nine months old seedlings can be planted at an espacement of 3 X 3m or 3 X 4m. Annual pruning is done to get the straight cylindrical boles.
Irrigation
The tree responds well to irrigation at once in every 10 – 15 days during non rainy season.
Fertilizer requirements
Application of N, P, K mixture of 25 -50 g per tree, two times in a year help to augment the growth. The fertilizer requirements can be scheduled on need basis depending on the growth and development of the tree.
Insects and Pest:
Defoliators, leaf miners and sap suckers are recorded along with several wood borers. Ganoderma lucidum causes root rot in high rainfall areas and Corticium salmonicolor causes stem and twig canker
Wood characteristics
The sapwood is greyish white; heartwood light pink to light red turning pale russet brown on ageing. It is lustrous with dry feel, very light (spl gr- 0.33; wt - 21 Ib. /cu ft.) straight grained and coarse and somewhat uneven – textured. The timber is not durable in exposed positions but moderately so under cover. It is not so strong and durable as neem. It seasons well if logs are converted in a green state. If left long, the log is liable to develop end – splitting and discoloration The best method of dealing with the timber is to convert the logs immediately after felling and to open – stack sawn material, preferably under cover, to avoid grey stain.
Uses
The wood is used for packing cases, cigar boxes, ceiling planks, building purposes, agricultural implements, pencils, match boxes, splints and Kattamarams. In Ceylon, it is employed for outriggers of boats. It is suitable for musical instruments, tea boxes and plyboard. It is a good fuel wood (Calorific value, 5.043 - 5,176 cal.)
The fruit of the plant is bitter. It is considered anthelmintic. It gives positive tests with alkaloid reagents.
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