Synonyms: 

Cytisus pinnatus L.

Dalbergia arborea Willd.

Systematic Position

Kingdom:  Plantae

Phylum: Tracheophyta

Order: Fabales

Family: Fabaceae

Native: India

Common Names

English – Indian beech/Pongame oiltree

Malayalam – ഉങ്, പീനാറി

Description:

A medium-sized evergreen or deciduous. Smooth glabrous shrub or tree
reaching15-25m high, 50-80 cm or more in diameter and broad crown of spreading or
drooping branches. Bark grey-brown, smooth or faintly vertically fissured. Leaves alternate,
imparipinnate with long slender petiole, pinkish-red when young. Leaflets 5-9, paired except
at end, short-stalked Inflorescence raceme, axillary, 6-27 cm long, bearing pairs of strongly
fragrant flowers. Corolla white to pink, purple inside, brownish veined outside, 5-lobed. Fruit
is a legume. flattened but slightly swollen, slightly curved with short, curved point (beaked),
brown, thick-walled, thick leathery to sub-woody, hard, indehiscent, 1-2 seeded. Seeds
contain oil.

Habitat: Pongamia pinnata thrives in warm, sunny environments with well-drained soil.

Distribution: India and Myanmar

Uses: Used for biodiesel production and soil improvement. applied as crude drug for the
treatment of tumors, piles, skin diseases, and ulcers. The root is effective for treating
gonorrhea, cleaning gums, teeth, and ulcers, and is used in vaginal and skin diseases.