Botanical Name - Tamarindus indica

----- Tamarindus, Linn.; F.B.I., II-273. T. indica, Linn.; F.B.I., II-273. Brandi's Ind. Trees, 252. Gamble's Ind. Timbers, 278. Vern. Tamar-i-hind, Pers. Amli, Imli, Hind. Chinta, Tel. Chitz, Mar. The Tamarind.

----- A large evergreen tree. Bark dark-grey, with longitudinal fissures and horizontal cracks. Leaves abruptly pinnate. Leaflets 10-20 pairs, opposite, 1/2 - 3/4 in. by 1/6 - 1/5 in., linear-oblong, obtuse, often emarginate, sub-coriaceous, very minutely petioluled, with intra-marginal nerves. Flowers in few flowered, lax, terminal racemes. Calyx-tube turbinate; segments 4. Petals only the three upper developed which are under 1/2 in. long, pale-white, variegated with red stripes, the middle one hooded, the two lower reduced to scales. Stamens monadelphous, only 3 developed, the others reduced to mere bristles at the top of the sheaths. Ovary many-ovuled, stalk adnate to the calyx-tube. Pod 3-8 by 3/8 - 1 in. oblong, slightly compressed, usually flacate, 3-10-seeded, indehiscent with a crustaceous, brittle epicarp, which ultimately cracks irregularly; sutures indistinct. Seeds 1/2 in. diam., compressed, with a dark-brown or black, hard, smooth, shining testa, imbedded in a brown pulp.

----- This is a very handsome tree of a slow growth, but attains a great size; said to be a native of Central Africa. It is not a tree common in the forests, but is met with in gardens, near old temples, in groves or topes, near villages and along roads where it has been planted. It is a graceful avenue tree and its fruit is in great request. It is used medicinally as a laxative, and in cookery it is an indispensable ingredient in curries. The young leaves, too, which also have an acid flavour, are cooked and eaten. The seed when boiled makes a strong cement and this mixed with saw-dust is used for moulding toys and figures of dolls, etc. Cut in two and rubbed on a scorpion sting it is said to be a certain cure. The wood is remarkably heavy and hard, the heart-wood of old trees is dark-coloured, resembling ebony. The tree is apt to be hollow in the centre, which prevents large planks being obtained. The wood is used for sugar and oil mills, naves of wheels, mallets, rice-pounders, and it is also an excellent wood for turning, and for furniture or inside fittings in houses but carpenters are very unwilling to work it up on account of its extreme hardness and the damage it causes to the best tempered tools. Weight of sapwood about 60 lbs., and heart-wood, 80 lbs. per c. ft. Tents pitched under Tamarind trees in wet weather get damaged, perhaps by the acid in the leaves. Flowers May and June, Fruit March and April, i.e., 10-11 months after flowering. The red-fruited variety in much valued. Only isolated trees are met with and that to very rarely. It was probably introduced from the West Indies.