The golden tree (Cassia fistula L.) is a tropical and subtropical legume tree that is used as an ornamental, for fodder and for fuel and timber.
Morphology
Cassia fistula is a medium sized deciduous or semi-deciduous tree, 10 to 15 m tall with a straight trunk to 5 m in height and 1 m in diameter. It has spreading branches that form an open crown. The stem bark is pale grey, smooth and slender when young and dark brown and rough when old. The leaves are alternate, spirally arranged, paripinnately compound, 30-40 cm long, each pinnae bearing 3-8 pairs of large, ovate leaflets, 7.5-15 cm long x 2-5 cm broad, entire. The flowers are showy, bright yellow in colour, pentamerous and slightly zygomorphic in shape, 3.5 cm in diameter. They are borne on terminal, drooping racemes about 30-60 cm long which can be grouped by 3. The fruit is a pendulous, cylindrical, indehiscent pod, up to 60-100 cm long x 1.5-2 cm wide. It is black, glabrous and many seeded (25-100 seeds). When the pods are still young, the seeds are embedded in a black pulp. The seeds are ellipsoid, 8-9 mm long, glossy light brown in colour (Orwa et al., 2009; Bosch, 2007). The latin name "cassia" comes from the greek word "kassia" meaning fragrant and aromatic plant (Datiles et al., 2017; Orwa et al., 2009).
Uses
Cassia fistula is a multipurpose tree. It is widely grown as an ornamental plant in tropical and subtropical areas due to its profuse flowering. The flower of the golden tree is Thailand's national symbol (Royal Thai Government, 2001) and the state flower of the Kerala state in India. Cassia fistula provides fuel and good quality charcoal, as well as a hard and heavy timber suited to make furniture, farm implements, posts, wheels and mortars. The bark yields tannins and dyestuff. The flowers produce pollen and the base of the leaf-stalk yields a nectar that is collected by bees. In India, some people eat the flowers (Orwa et al., 2009). Golden tree twigs are commonly lopped for fodder (Göhl, 1982). Cassia fistula features extensively in ethnomedicine. Leaf extracts are known for their antidiarrhoeal activity demonstrated in laboratory studies with rabbits or guinea pigs (Gupta et al., 1993). Some extracts of leaves and flowers have a significant antibacterial activity and other valuable pharmacological activities, and are thus used in traditional South Asian pharmacopoeia (Gobianand et al., 2010; Voon et al., 2012).
