Fabaceae FAMILY Critically Endangered

Gymnocladus assamicus

Edibility

2/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

Excessive eating of the seeds can cause dizziness, nausea and vomiting^[1]. The seeds and seedpods are rich in saponins. Although poisonous, saponins are poorly absorbed by the human body and so most pass through without harm. Saponins are quite bitter and can be found in many common foods such as some beans. They can be removed by carefully leaching in running water. Thorough cooking, and perhaps changing the cooking water once, will also normally remove most of them. However, it is not advisable to eat large quantities of raw foods that contain saponins. Saponins are much more toxic to some creatures, such as fish, and hunting tribes have traditionally put large quantities of them in streams, lakes etc in order to stupefy or kill the fish^[PFAF].

Cultivation Details

HabitDeciduous Tree

Growth—

Gymnocladus assamicus is native to moderate elevations in northeast India and can occasionally experience light frosts. However, the climate is basically subtropical with a short cool period but most of the year it is very warm to hot. The mean average rainfall in at least part of its range is 1,750 - 2,030mm, most of it falling in the growing season^[1]. Trees take around 28 years from seed before they begin to produce seed^[2]. Trees can bear eith male or hermaphrodite flowers^[2]. In many species that do this, some or all of the hermaphrodite flowers are functionally female, but we have not found any confirmation of this in the literature. It is probably best, if cultivating the plant, to try and grow both male and hermaphrodite forms^[PFAF].

Propagation

The seeds of this species can be very slow to germinate and benefit from scarification before sowing in order to soften the seedcoat and speed up and improve germination. This can usually be done by pouring a small amount of nearly boiling water on the seeds (being careful not to cook them!) and then soaking them for 12 - 24 hours in warm water. By this time they should have imbibed moisture and swollen - if they have not, then carefully make a nick in the seedcoat (being careful not to damage the embryo) and soak for a further 12 hours before sowing^[PFAF]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Gymnocladus+assamicus>

Pollinators

Insects

References

[1]Gymnocladus assamicus Kanjilal ex P.C.Kanjilal fruit - A soap substitute — Choudhury B.I.; Khan M.L.; Arunachalam A.; Arunachalam K. · 2007 ↩︎
[2]IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — http://www.iucnredlist.org/ ↩︎A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat.
[3]In depth chemical investigation of Glycyrrhiza triphylla Fisch roots guided by a preliminary HPLC-ESIMS n profiling — Abolfazl Shakeri et al · 2018 · https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2017.12.031 ↩︎
[4]Antioxidant activity of different parts of Lysimachia laxa and Gymnocladus assamicus, a comparison using three diffe — Sanjoy Gupta, Soneswar Sarma, A.A. Mao & Tapan Seal · 2013 · ISBN 0975-7384 ↩︎
[5]Minangmose (Gymnocladus assamicus) and Dekang (Gymnocladus Burmanicus): Culturally important and endangered trees of — Singh R.K.; Srivastava R.C.; Adi tribe; Monpa tribe; Khasi t · 2010 ↩︎
[PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎