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Cassia fistula L.

Synonym                    : Bactyrilobium fistula Wild.

Family                        : Caesalpinioideae

Local Names              : Kannikonna, Golden shower, Indian laburnum

Flowering and fruiting period: February – September 

Distribution: Indo-Malaysia

Habitat: Moist deciduous forests, widely planted as ornamental plant

IUCN status: Least concern

Endemic: Yes

Uses: The sweet blackish pulp of the seedpod is used as a mild laxative. Used for road-side plantations because of its excellent yellow shower flower. Wood is used for agricultural implements. The bark is used for tanning and dyeing. The pulp of the fruit furnishes an excellent and safe purgative, useful in chest and heart diseases 

Key Characters Cassia fistula are deciduous trees with surface pale when young, dark grey when old, smooth, exfoliating in hard scales. Leaves paripinnate, alternate, leaflets opposite, ovate, margin entire, pulvinate. Flowers bisexual, yellow, , in axillary drooping racemes. Calyx tube short, lobes 5, ovate. Petals 5, obovate. Stamens 10, all fertile; upper 3 short with erect filaments; anthers  basifixed; lower 3 large with curved filaments, anthers dorsifixed. Ovary half inferior, ovules many; stigma punctiform. Fruit a pod.