Volume 4 > Part 1 > Year 1984 > Page 65 > Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae > Caesalpinia

2. Caesalpinia sappan L.wfo-0000214430

Sp. Pl. 1: 381. 1753; Gagnep. in Fl. Gén. I.-C. 2: 179. 1913; Craib in Fl. Siam. En. 1: 504. 1928; Back. & Bakh. f., Fl. Java 1: 54–6. 1964; Hattink, Reinwardtia 9: 51. 1974; Vidal & Hul Thol, Bull. Mus. natn. Hist. nat. Paris 395 (Bot. 27): 80. 1976; Vidal in Fl. C.L.V. 18: 26. Pl. 2, 8–14. 1980. Fig. 15: 8–14.

Accepted Name : Biancaea sappan (L.) Tod.
Hort. Bot. Panorm. 1(1): 3. 1875.

Description : Small tree or shrub up to 10 m, armed with recurved prickles. Stipules 3–4 mm, caducous. Leaves: rhachis 15–40 cm; pinnae 8-16 pairs, leaflets 6–12 pairs, opposite, subsessi1e, oblong, 10–20 by 6–10 mm, rounded-emarginate at the tip, very unequal at the base. Racemes supra-axillary and combined into terminal panicles. Bracts lanceolate, acuminate 6 mm, caducous. Pedicels 15–20 mm, pubescent, jointed near the top. Sepals glabrous, the lowest one more concave and larger. Petals yellow, obovate, the standard smaller, constricted into a claw and hairy inside towards the middle. Filaments hairy. Ovary pubescent, 3–6–ovulate. Pods sessile on the receptacle, flattened, 7–12 by 1.5–2 cm, widest and truncate-acuminate towards the top, rounded at the base. Seeds 2–4, elliptic in outline, 18 by 10 mm.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai; CENTRAL: Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (Bangkok); SOUTH-WESTERN: Khanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi; PENINSULAR: Chumphon.

Distribution : Ceylon (type), India, Burma, Indochina (Cambodia, Laos, N & S Vietnam), S China, Malay Peninsula and Archipelago.

Ecology : In scrub jungle, limestone hills and in cultivation around the villages. Flowering: June–December; fruiting: December–May.

Vernacular : Fang (ฝาง), khwahg (ขวาง)(Southwestern); nam khong (หนามโค้ง)(Northern); ngai (ง้าย)(Karen-Southwestern).

CommonName : Sappan wood (from the malay name sepang).

Uses: From the wood a red dye can be obtained. The shrub is used also in hedges.