Upright, semi - evergreen tree. It has dark green leathery leaflets, fragrant, yellow flowers and alongated seedpod. Shade tree on streets and roadsides or cover for cash crops in the humid tropics. Also grown as an ornamental. Sap wood soft and light, not durable and of little use, heartwood red, hard and strong. Good for carpentry, construction and cartwright's work. Bark contains tannins, giving a light yellow color to leather, tannins also present in leaves and wood. Medicinal uses: bark for dysentry, tooth powder, eye lotion, embrocation for pains and sores; the bark gives a dye of a yellow color. Can be used as a shade - or specimen tree.
USDA hardiness zone 10b. It is a fast-growing tree. Temperatures in the high 20's cause the leaves to drop but these are quickly replaced. Young trees flower in 2-3 years from seed.
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