Caesalpinia pulcherrima (L.) Swartz
Peacock Flower / Bunga merak (M.)
Description
Traditional Medicinal Uses
Ecology
Propagation
Distribution
Precaution
Perennial shrub or small tree that can grow up to 5 m tall. Leaves are pinnately compound with 6-12 pairs of leaflets that are arranged oppositely. Leaflet blades are ovate or obovate, rounded to retuse at apex, oblique or rounded at base with entire margin. Stems are branching, smooth and sometimes sparsely prickly. Flowers are yellow to orange-red. Inflorescence a terminal raceme. Fruit a glabrous, blackish-
Locally, the roots are soaked in warm water as herbal bath to maintain general health. The plant possesses contraceptive, anthelmintic, antivenom, anticonvulsant, antidepressant, antidiabetic, wound healing and antiasthmatic
It prefers fertile clay soil under full sunlight. It thrives in open woodlands, in grasslands, near rivers or lake shores and in disturbed places.
Seeds or stem cutting.
Native to tropical and subtropical America.
None