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Kachlora
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Kachlora
ative Photo: Prashant Awale
Common name: Kachlora • Hindi: कचलोरा kachlora, kavhlota • Kannada: Kaddu kondemara • Malayalam: Attaparanta; Kattukonna; Mutha; Muthakolappan; Pannivaka; Varikiri • Marathi: kachlor • Sanskrit: aragvadha • Tamil: Kalpakku, kattaki • Mizo: Ardah-te
Botanical name: Archidendron bigeminum    Family: Mimosaceae (Touch-me-not family)
Synonyms: Mimosa bigemina, Archidendron monadelphum

Kachlora is a medium sized tree up to 12 m tall. Bark is reddish-brown, prominently warty, with reddish pink blaze. Young branchlets are round, hairy. Leaves are bipinnately compound, arranged alternately, spirally. Stipule fall off early. Rachis is 10-11 cm long, pulvinate, round stalkless gland along the upper side of the primary and in between the leaflets of secondary rachis. Leaflet stalks are 0.4-0.5 cm long. Sidestalks are 1-2 pairs, opposite, lower pinnae shorter than terminal. Leaflets are 4-8, opposite, increasing in size towards tip, 4-14.5 x1.8-5.5 cm, usually narrow elliptic to ovate, caudate-acuminate with mucronate tip, base asymmetric or narrow, margin entire, papery. Flowers are borne in globose heads, in terminal and axillary panicles. Flowers are white, stalkless. Pods are 10 x 1.5-2 cm, twisted, strap shaped, red within. Seeds are 3-8, ovoid, smooth. Kachlora is found in India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
Medicinal uses: In Ayurveda, Kachlora is believed to have anti-diabetic properties. It is one of the ingredients of some ant-diabetic capsules.

Identification credit: G. Rao, Shrikant Ingalhalikar Photographed in Karnataka.

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