This fairly large tree is found in the wild in India, and is also globally distributed in Bangladesh, Myanmar, New Guinea, Nicobar Island, Pakistan, Philippines, etc.

It has feather-like compound leaves; each leaf bearing alternately arranged oval leaflets. The very tiny, star-shaped yellow flowers grow in racemes. The flowering is usually seen in the months of March-May.

The fruits are curved, hanging green pods that turn brown, coil up and split open as they ripen to shed red, bead like seeds.

These seeds have been used as beads in jewellery and rosaries. They were also once used by Arabian jewellers as units of weight, as all of them have identical weights. Children love collecting the brightly coloured seeds usually littered under the tree.

It is a timber tree, the wood is extremely hard and used in boat-building and making furniture.

The tree has notable uses in traditional medicine such as Ayurveda, Folk medicine, Siddha, traditional Chinese medicine.

The scientific name has the prefix adeno meaning 'gland'. It was coined to describe the stalked glands on the anthers of the flower.