Plant · P-907

Arjuna

Terminalia arjuna

Arjuna is a fast-growing evergreen tree in the leadwood-tree family, native to tropical Asia, where it grows along riverbanks and in wet, marshy ground across India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. It reaches 25 to 30 metres with a wide, often buttressed canopy and smooth grey bark, wants full sun, and tolerates sandy, loamy or clay soil across a pH range of roughly 5 to 7, preferring it well-drained even though the species itself tolerates both dry spells and short periods of flooding; it needs a nearly frost-free winter and is killed by temperatures near minus one Celsius. The edible seed is a minor food and the bark is boiled in milk as a traditional beverage, but the tree is grown above all for its bark, which is rich in tannins, flavonoids and triterpenoid saponins and is used across traditional and modern herbal medicine as a cardiotonic for heart disease and to steady an irregular heartbeat. The heavy, very hard timber suits construction, carts and boats, the bark also yields a commercial tannin and the trunk a clear gum, and the wide canopy is planted for shade over coffee and other shade-grown crops.