Appearance
A fully mature tree can reach up to 45 m in height. It is a large tree with a broad crown and straight cylindrical bole. It is quick growing, with broad spreading branches and grows rapidly in the first 6–8 years. The trunk has a diameter of 100–160 cm, but typically less than that. Leaves are 13–32 cm long. Flowering usually begins when the tree is 4–5 years old.Its flowers are sweetly fragrant, red to orange in colour, occurring in dense, globular heads of approximately 5.5 cm diameter. The fruit of "N. cadamba" occur in small, fleshy capsules packed closely together to form a fleshy yellow-orange infructescence containing approximately 8000 seeds. On maturing, the fruit splits apart, releasing the seeds, which are then dispersed by wind or rain.
⤷ Stamens 5, inserted on the corolla tube, filaments short, anthers basifixed. Ovary inferior, bi-locular, sometimes 4-locular in the upper part, style exserted and a spindle-shaped stigma.
⤷ Fruitlets numerous with their upper parts containing 4 hollow or solid structures. Seed trigonal or irregularly shaped.
⤷ The sapwood is white with a light yellow tinge becoming creamy yellow on exposure and is not clearly differentiated from the heartwood.
Naming
The genus name honours French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.Habitat
"N. cadamba" is native to the following areas:⤷ Southern China
⤷ Indian subcontinent: India; Bangladesh; Nepal; Sri Lanka
⤷ Southeast Asia: Cambodia; Laos; Myanmar; Thailand; Vietnam, Indonesia; Malaysia; Papua New Guinea; Australia
It is an introduced species in Puerto Rico at Toro Negro State Forest.
The larvae of "Moduza procris", a brush-footed butterfly, and "Arthroschista hilaralis", a moth, consume this species. The flowers attract pollinators.
Uses
This section needs additional citations for. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.The fruit and inflorescences are reportedly edible by humans. The fresh leaves are fed to cattle.
"N. lamarckia" is grown as an ornamental, and for low-grade timber and paper. The timber is used for plywood, light construction, pulp and paper, boxes and crates, dug-out canoes, and furniture components. Kadamba yields a pulp of satisfactory brightness and performance as a hand sheet. The wood can be easily impregnated with synthetic resins to increase its density and compressive strength. The wood has a density of 290–560 kg/cu m at 15% moisture content, a fine to medium texture; straight grain; low luster and has no characteristic odor or taste. It is easy to work, with hand and machine tools, cuts cleanly, gives a very good surface and is easy to nail. The timber air dries rapidly with little or no degrade. Kadamba wood is very easy to preserve using either open tank or pressure-vacuum systems.
Kadamba is one of the most frequently planted trees in the tropics. The tree is grown along avenues, roadsides and villages for shade. Kadamba are suitable for reforestation programs. It sheds large amounts of leaf and non-leaf litter which on decomposition improves some physical and chemical properties of soil under its canopy. This reflects an increase in the level of soil organic carbon, cation-exchange capacity, available plant nutrients and exchangeable bases.
A yellow dye is obtained from the root bark. Kadamba flowers are an important raw material in the production of ‘attar’, which is Indian perfume with sandalwood base in which one of the essences is absorbed through hydro-distillation. An extract of the leaves serves as a mouth gargle. The bulbous fruit is edible and is consumed raw in Northern India. It is fragrant, sweet and little tangy in taste and is widely enjoyed as relish.
The leaf extract has recently been used to produce silver nanoparticles for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.
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