Baenge mara – Indian kino tree

Baenge mara(Pterocarpus marsupium Roxb.) one of the native trees in Kodagu is a deciduous tree which grows up to 30 m tall. Bark is grey or greyish-black, rough, deeply vertically cracked.Flowers are fragrant yellow in clusters.

Kodava

Baenge mara

English

Bijasal, Indian kino tree

Kannada

Honne mara

Botanical Name

Pterocarpus marsupium Roxb.

Family

FABOIDEAE

Flowering starts

March

Fruiting ends

December

Uses

The timber wood is mainly used for building purpose, agricultural implements, timber bridges etc. Wood pulp is used in paper industry and wood is used as fuel. Plant yields a gum ‘kino’ used in pharmaceutical industry and also in dyeing, tanning, printing and paper industry. Bark, flowers, wood and leaves are medicinal. Leaves are used as fodder and as green manure in arecanut plantations.