Pterocarpus

views updated May 17 2018

Pterocarpus (family Leguminosae, subfamily Papilionatae) A genus of trees that have pinnate leaves and rather large leaflets. The flowers are showy racemes, in lax panicles. The fruit is a disc-like, flat, indehiscent pod, obliquely beaked, often membranaceous at the edges, containing 1 seed. The trees yield dark, fine-grained, superb cabinet timber (amboyna, angsana, sena from P. indicus, padauk from several continental Asian species). The cut bark yields a resin (kino) which is astringent and medicinal. There are about 20 species, with a pantropical distribution.

sena

views updated Jun 27 2018

sena Timber from Pterocarpus indica. See PTEROCARPUS.