Reetha - Soapnut Tree

Description:

1. Habit & habitat: A tree, dry deciduous forests and margins of grasslands.

2. Distribution: State – Kerala, District/s: Palakkad, Idukki, And
Malappuram.

3. Morphology:
Leaf compound, 15-30 cm long. Leaflets are nearly stalkless, 2-3 pairs,
8-18 cm long, 5-7.5 cm broad, elliptic-lance shaped, Smooth, pointed
tipped, base slightly oblique, terminal pair longest.

Inflorescence: In terminal and Axillary panicles.

Flower: Flowers are greenish-white, in terminal, slightly velvety
panicles. Flower stalks are 3 mm long, velvety. Sepals are 5, slightly
fused at the base, 4-5 mm long, ovate-oblong, velvety. Petals are 5, free, 5-6 mm long, lance-shaped to ovate, clawed, bristly. Disc is 5-lobed.
Androecium: Stamens are 8, free, filaments 2-3 mm long.

Gynoecium: Ovary is 3-locular, 3-lobed, ovoid, about 3 mm long,
velvety, with 1 ovule in each locule.
Fruit: Fruit is 2-3 lobed, 1.3-2 cm long, velvety when young, hard and

smooth when mature. Each cell has a 6-9 mm black, round seed, which
is popular as a traditional washing soap.

Flowering and fruiting: November-March.

Seed: seeds black, globose, smooth.

4. Propagation: Seed and Greenwood cuttings.

5. Importance:
Fruits are used as a substitute for soap, especially for washing clothes.
Root-bark and fruit given internally as emetic, tonic, anthelmintic, alexipharmic, purgative, nauseant and as errhine, used in epilepsy, asthma, hysteria and hemicrania; Fruit is used in leprosy, pruritus, boils and as abortifacient.