Acacia coral - Adenanthera pavonina

Common Name :	Acacia coral, False red sandalwood, etc.
Botanical Name :	Adenanthera pavonina
Family :	Mimosaceae
Bangla Name :	Rokton ful (রক্তন ফুল), Ranjana ful (রঞ্জনা ফুল).
Photo Taken :	Bangladesh

The name of the plant is False red sandalwood. False because it is not a true Sandalwood plant. This plant produces attractive red seeds, for which people mixed this with the Red sandalwood (Pterocarpus santalinus). This plant is native to South asian region including Bangladesh.

In Bangladesh this plant is known as Rokton. In Kolkata this is known as Ranjana. In English this plant is known as Acacia Coral, Red beadtree, Coral wood, etc. Botanical name of the plant is Adenanthera pavonina. It belongs to the plant family Mimosaceae.

Acacia coral (Adenanthera pavonina) is a very fast growing plant. Leafs are compound bipinnate (arranged oppositely). Leaflets are lens shaped arranged alternately. This plant can grow up to 20 meter in a suitable condition. Often this plant is seen with multiple stems. The wood of the plant is very hard. People use to make furniture and boat with this.

Acacia coral (Adenanthera pavonina) flowers are very small and not that much showy. Flowers bloom as a cluster. The shape is like a tail of a cat. Around the stalk the small flowers use to bloom. Flowers have five petals and shape of a star. Initially the flower cluster color is green (for the bud and bracts). After blooming it is white/creamy white and later becomes yellow (or orange-yellow) in color.

The fruit is a pod similar to any other Mimosaceae family plant. Each of the seedpod contains 8-15 bright red seeds having shape of bead. When the pod bursts into two halves, it contain the seeds alternately in each half. Kids use to collect the seed as those are glossy and attractive (and later play with them).

The seeds are poisonous when eaten raw. But cooking (boiling) the seed may neutralize the toxicity. Young leafs can be cooked as a vegetable. Several part of the plant has medicinal usage (i.e. leprosy, dysentery, headache, migraines, etc).

Seeds are hanging alternately on the pod's halves.

Compound bipinnate leaf of Acacia coral (Adenanthera pavonina).

Photos of Acacia coral (Adenanthera pavonina) were taken from the Ramna park of Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was the month of June 2015.


This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://icflora.blogspot.com/