Botany
· A deciduous tree reaching a height of 15 m, the branches and the branchlets stout and armed with short, few to many sharp prickles.
· Leaves: leaflets broadly ovate and 8 to 18 cm long, with pointed tip and broad base.
· Flowers: calyx about 4 cm long and minutely Toothed at the tip, the mouth being very oblique. Petals brightly red and shorter than the calyx, the standard being 7 to 9 cm long and the wings and keels subequal. Stamens 10, upper filaments free nearly to the base or more or less connate with others. Ovary many-ovuled, style incurved. Racemes terminal, hairy, dense and up to 2.5 cm long. Papilionaceous flowers large and numerous.
· Fruits: pods, 10 to 25 cm long, 1.5 to 2 cm in diameter and distinctly constricted between the seeds.

Distribution
Shoreline; and frequently planted inland throughout the Philippines.

Part utilized
Bark and leaves.
Remove spines from bark after collection, rinse, sun-dry.

Characteristics and Pharmacological Effects
Antirheumatic. Beneficial for the circulation and nerves. Prepared drug tastes bitter, neutral in effect.

Folkloric Uses
· Rheumatic lumbar and leg pain - take 9 to 15 gms dried bark in decoction or in the form of alcohol (wine) infusion.
· Infantile convulsion, ascariasis: Take 2.5 to 3 gms pulverized leaves in the form of snuff.

Availability
Wild-crafted.