Drumstick tree

Scientific Name :

Moringa oleifera L.

Synonym(s) :

Guilandina moringa L.

Local/Common name(s) :

Muringa, Drumstick tree

Family :

Moringaceae

Habit :

Tree

Flowering/Fruiting Time :

November-March

Habitat :

Dry deciduous forests and also cultivated

Endemic :

No

Status (IUCN) :

Least concern (LC)

Distribution :

Endemic to India; Kerala: throughout (Cultivated)

Nativity :

Indigenous

Uses :

Medicine, Fibre, Food, Dye, Poison, Gum, Oil, Fodder

Description (Morphology) :

Small trees; branchlets lenticellate. Leaves tri-pinnate, to 50 cm, tomentose, pinnae and pinnules opposite, rachis thickened; leaflets oblong, obtuse at apex, pubescent; petiolule to 1 mm. Panicles axillary, tomentose; flowers white, pedicels to 1.5 cm; calyx lobes 1.5 cm, oblong, reflexed, pubescent outside; petals spathulate, unequal; fertile stamens 5, filaments 1 cm; anthers one celled, intervened by 5 or 7 staminodes; ovary 1-celled, 3-valved, to 5 mm, ovoid, tomentose, style 8 mm, stigma perforated. Pod to 50 cm, 9-ribbed; seeds winged.