Common name: Yellow Nicker, Gray nicker, nicker seed, bonduc nut,
Fever nut, nicker bean
Botanical name: Caesalpinia bonduc Family: Caesalpiniaceae (Gulmohar
family)
Synonyms: Caesalpinia crista, Caesalpinia bonducella, Guilandina
bonduc
Yellow Nicker is a large, thorny, straggling, shrub which behaves
like a strong woody climber, taking support of trees. The branches
are armed with hooks and straight hard yellow prickles. Leaves are
large, double compound, with 7 pairs of pinnae, and each
 with
3-8 pairs of leaflets with 1-2 small recurved prickles between them
on the underside. Flowers are yellow, in dense long-stalked racemes
at the top. Fruits are inflated pods, covered with wiry prickles.
Seeds are 1-2 per pod, oblong or globular, hard, grey with a smooth
shiny surface. The hard and shiny seeds are green, turning grey.They
are used for jewellery.
Medicinal uses: Fruits are tonic and antipyretic. Seeds yield a
fatty oil used as a cosmetic and for discharges from the ear. Leaves
and bark are febrifuge. |
