Scientific name: Pongamia pinnata (L.) Pierre
Family: Fabaceae
Synonym: Pongamia glabra Vent.
Bengali/Vernacular name: Karanija, Dahur karanja, Dahur, Kanji, Pitagola, Koja (Bengali); Karach (Sylhet); Karanja (Sunderban); Keron, Kerong (Chittagong); Kenda gas (Noakhali).
Tribal name: Mauprun (Marma).
English name: Indian beach, Pongam oil tree.
Description of the plant: A small-sized evergreen or semi-deciduous tree with a short trunk and spreading crown. Leaves alternate, imparipinnate, leaflets 5-9, opposite, ovate-oblong, terminal one largest, glossy-green, apex acuminate, obtuse-cuneate at the base, margin entire. Flowers purplish or pinkish white in 7-15 cm long peduncled axillary racemes. Fruit a flattened, woody pod, oblique, elliptically oblong with a beak.
Plant parts used: Seed.
Medicinal uses: Roasted seeds are pounded and applied over affected areas for the treatment of skin disease.
Seed oil is used to treat scabies, herpes and rheumatism.
Powder made from the seeds of the plant is used for the treatment of whooping cough and fever.
Seed is used to kill parasitic worm.
Distribution: Chittagong, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Cox’s Bazar, Sylhet, Sundarbans, usually growing by the side of rivers, canals, streams and ditches.
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