A small deciduous tree up to 12 m tall with a short trunk up to 50 cm in diameter, with smooth or slightly fissured, whitish-grey to light brown bark, often branching from the base; the mature tree has an irregular spreading crown of thin foliage. Leaves alternate, pinnate, 15—40 cm long; petiole 5 mm long; rachis slender, yellow-green, finely hairy; leaflets 7—17 per leaf, opposite except in upper part of rachis, elliptical or lanceolate, 3—6 cm x 1.5—3 cm, rounded or cuneate at base, acuminate at top, thin, dull green and glabrous above, grey-green and often pubescent beneath. Flowers in a 5—12 cm long, axillary raceme, about 2 cm long, on an 8—12 mm long, slender pedicel; calyx campanulate, 5-toothed, light green tinged with red; corolla whitish-pink or purple, with a broad standard, folded back and yellowish near the base, 2 oblong, curved wings, and a narrow keel; stamens 10, white, 9 united in a tube and 1 free; pistil with stalked, narrow, red ovary and whitish, curved style. Pod narrow, flat, 10—15 cm x 1.2—1.5 cm, yellow-green when immature, turning yellowish-brown, shortly stalked and with a short mucro, splitting open at maturity, 4—10-seeded. Seed ellipsoid, about 10 mm long, shiny, dark reddish-brown.

Antipruritic (juice of leaves, bark and roots)

Philippine Medicinal Plants
PROSEA (Plant Resources of South-East Asia) Foundation

Ascorbic acid (leaf); beta-carotene, riboflavin, thiamin (flower); robinetin (wood).

The juice of the leaves, bark and roots is used as a traditional anti-dermatophyte to control eczema and to alleviate itches, scabies and wounds; applied as poultice for rheumatic pains, sprains and closed fractures (crushed leaves)