Cassia fistula
(Indian laburnum)

Preferred Common Name

• Indian laburnum

Other Scientific Names

• Bactyrilobium fistula (L.) Willd.
• Cassia bonplandiana DC.
• Cassia excelsa Kunth
• Cassia fistuloides Collad.
• Cassia rhombifolia Roxb.
• Cathartocarpus excelsus G.Don
• Cathartocarpus fistuloides (Collad.) G.Don
• Cathartocarpus fistulus (L.) Pers.
• Cathartocarpus rhombifolius G.Don

International Common Names

• English: cassia stick tree; golden pipe tree; golden rain; golden shower; pudding-pipe tree; purging cassia; purging fistula
• Spanish: canafistola (Honduras); canafistula; canafistula mansa; canapistola (Spain); chácara; chorizo; cigarro; guayaba cimarrona
• French: baton casse; canéficier; casse doux; casse espagnole; casse fistuleuse; cassie fistuleuse; cassier commun; cytise Indien; douche d'or
• Chinese: la chang shu

Local Common Names

• Bangladesh: bandarlathi; desi asal; shonalu; shondal; sonali; suvarnaka
• Bolivia: lluvia de oro
• China: kakke
• Cuba: cana fistula; cana fistula cimarrona; canafistola; canafistola cimarrona; canafistola exotica; canandonga
• Dominican Republic: canafistol; canafistula de purgante; canafistula mansa; canafistula purgante; chácara; guayaba cimarrona
• Germany: Fistul-kassie; Kassie, Röhren-; Mannabaum, Indischer; Rohrenkassie
• Haiti: baton casse; casse; casse espagnole
• India: amaltas; bharva; garmala; girimalah; kakke; kanikonna; konna; konni; pela; rajataru; sundali; suvarnaka
• Italy: cassia in bastoni
• Lesser Antilles: canéfice; canéficier; casse casse-habitant; cassia stick tree; kas
• Malaysia: bereksa; rajah kayu; tengguli
• Philippines: ibabau; Kana-pistula; kanya pistula; Lapad-lapad; lombayong
• Saudi Arabia: arabadha
• Sri Lanka: aehaela-gaha; ahalla; Ahalla-gass; konnai; sarak-konne; tiru kontai
• Thailand: chaiyaphruek; khuun
• Vietnam: bo-cap nuóc

EPPO code

• CASFI (Cassia fistula)

Trade name

• Indian laburnum
• rajbrikh

• Domain: Eukaryota
•     Kingdom: Plantae
•         Phylum: Spermatophyta
•             Subphylum: Angiospermae
•                 Class: Dicotyledonae
•                     Order: Fabales
•                         Family: Fabaceae
•                             Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae
•                                 Genus: Cassia
•                                     Species: Cassia fistula

Until the beginning of the 1980s the Cassia genus was considered to be a very large genus of over 500 species. Bentham (1871) wrote that three groups within the Cassia genus were so distinct from one another that any species can always be unequivocally allocated to one of them; some main distinctions included fruit structure, stamen structure and arrangement, and nodulation (Lock, 1988). However. it was not until 1982 that Irwin and Barneby formally separated Cassia into three genera: Cassia L. emend. Gaertner, Senna Miller, and Chamaecrista Moench. Cassia now has only 20-30 species, whereas Senna and Chamaecrista comprise about equal numbers of species (about 260 and 270, respectively) (Irwin and Barneby, 1982; Toruan-Purba, 1999; Lock and Ford, 2004). These three genera are now largely accepted and together make up the subtribe Cassinae. Members of Cassia sens. strict. are mostly trees with relatively cylindrical and indehiscent fruits, and three large sigmoidally-curved filaments, many having showy flowers (Lock and Simpson, 1991; Lock and Ford, 2004). Cassia and Senna differ principally in stamen organization and in arid areas of Australia, taxonomic distinctions between and within the three genera are blurred by polyploidy, hybridization and apoximis (Lewis et al, 2005). In 1988, Lock presented new names and combinations for the Cassinae species in Africa, noting that “if Cassia were to continue to be used in its broad sense in Africa, there would be several species which would be consistently given different names in different continents” (Lock, 1988).

Cassia fistula is the type species of the Cassia genus. It was described first by Linneaus in 1737 and again in 1747, and confirmed by DeWitt in 1955 (Irwin and Barneby, 1982).The name C. fistula is thought to originate from the ancient Greek name kassia or casia, for an aromatic and fragrant plant, as the species has a long history of herbal use; the pith of its long, woody pods yields a purgative medicine. This species is distinct from the ‘true cassia’ of commerce, Cinnamomumaromaticum Nees (Lauraceae), although Linnaeus used ‘cassia’ in the generic sense to include various plants with similar medicinal uses (Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, 2014).

Synonyms Cassia rhombifolia Roxb. and Cathartocarpus rhombifolium G. Don were both published independently in 1832.

Tree up to 20 m, usually glabrous. Leaves large, several-foliolate; petiole about 5 cm. long, eglandular; rachis usually 2-4 dm. long, like the petiole; stipules small, caducous; leaflets normally 4-8 pairs,  8-20×  8 cm, ovate to lanceolate, acute apically, very obtuse basally, puberulent to glabrous above, lightly pubescent below; petiolules up to 1 cm. long. Inflorescence a large, graceful, pendent, many-flowered raceme; pedicels slender, usually 3-4 cm. long. Flowers large, showy, yellow; sepals 5, (usually about 6 mm. long), ovate or oblong, puberulent; petals 5,  about 2 cm. long or longer, ovate-orbicular, short-clawed, venose; stamens 3-morphic, the 3 lowermost almost 3 cm. long, the anthers ovate-oblong, 4-5 mm. long, glabrous, dehiscent apically and basally; the 4 median stamens about 1 cm. long, the anther ovate-oblong, sagittate, about 4 mm. long, dehiscent from the basal lobes (and apical pores); 3 uppermost stamens shorter and smaller, somewhat unequal, the anthers similar to the median ones; ovary slender, lightly pubescent. Legume reportedly cylindric, about 50 cm. long, indehiscent, with horizontal seeds [Flora of Panama, 2014].

According to an early description by Griffith (1847), C. fistula was perceived to be native to Egypt and the East Indies, and had been used as a medicine since ancient times by Arab and Greek physicians. Bosch (2007) reports the species may originate from India, Sri Lanka and perhaps Myanmar, but certainly from tropical Asia, and the species is now pantropical and widespread in Southeast Asia and the Pacific and East Africa, along with several Indian Ocean islands. The species has been traded internationally, for example with Europe, for its uses in medicine as well as locally for tanning and timber (Duke, 1983; Bosch, 2007).

Date of introduction to the West Indies is obscure, but the species was included in Macfadyen’s Flora of Jamaica (Macfadyen, 1837), in which it was described as a non-indigenous “native of the East Indies, introduced to the warmer parts of America, where it is now naturalized”; Griffith confirmed ten years later that the species was present and naturalized in the West Indies and South America (Griffith, 1847). The species was reportedly present in the Isthmus of Panama by 1851 (Seemann, 1851). It was present in Puerto Rico by 1881, as it was included in Bello’s flora of the island (Bello Espinosa, 1881) and was reported as a wild-growing species in an 1898 USDA publication on trade in Puerto Rico (Hitchcock, 1898). According to Volume 4 of Urban’s work on the Antilles, by April 1911 the species was reported to occur in Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, St. Croix, St. Bathelemy, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Vincent, Bequia, Trinidad, and Margarita (Urban, 1898-1928). However, the species appears to have been introduced to the Dutch West Indies sometime after 1914, as it was not included in Boldingh’s work on this region (Boldingh, 1914).

Soil drainage

• free

Soil reaction

• acid
• alkaline
• neutral

Soil texture

• heavy
• light
• medium

Special soil tolerances

• infertile
• shallow

C. fistula has spread largely by intentional and more rarely accidental human introduction, as it is an economic plant valued for its hard, durable wood, its use in tanning, as well as its medicinal properties, which have been known and utilized since ancient times. The species can be propagated by seed and vegetatively through cuttings and layering, but relies primarily on human and animal dispersal as its pods and seeds are not adapted for self-propelling, water or wind dispersal (Duke, 1983; Bosch, 2007; PIER, 2014).

C. fistula has been valued for medicinal, ornamental and timber purposes, resulting in its widespread cultivation in tropical regions of America, Africa, and Asia. It has also been reported to help revegetate overgrazed lands (Troup and Joshi, 1983), but is not nitrogen-fixation capable. 

C. fistula has been reported to be invasive to Queensland, Australia, and given its wide distribution range could have a negative environmental impact. Although considered a species with low risk of introduction (PIER, 2014), the species possesses several traits that pose threat to native flora, including profuse production of seeds which can remain viable for more than a year, vegetative propogation by cutting and layering, and a hardy environmental tolerance for a wide range of soil types and climate zones (Duke, 1983; Bosch, 2007; ICRAF, 2014; PIER, 2014). More research is needed on the species’ invasiveness and its potential negative impact on the environment.

• Proved invasive outside its native range
• Abundant in its native range
• Highly adaptable to different environments
• Tolerates, or benefits from, cultivation, browsing pressure, mutilation, fire etc
• Tolerant of shade
• Benefits from human association (i.e. it is a human commensal)
• Long lived
• Has propagules that can remain viable for more than one year
• Reproduces asexually

• Threat to/ loss of endangered species
• Threat to/ loss of native species

• Allelopathic

• Highly likely to be transported internationally deliberately

C. fistula has been widely planted as a handsome ornamental tree, and reported as a firewood source in Mexico. The drug "cassia fistula", a mild laxative, is obtained from the sweetish pulp around the seed. The plants are reportedly used in folk remedies for tumors of the abdomen, glands, liver, stomach, and throat, cancer, carcinomata, and impostumes (abscesses) of the uterus (Duke, 1983). In Brazil, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, the species is used to treat malaria (Botsaris, 2006; Grace et al., 2012). Pharmacological studies have demonstrated that C. fistula possesses significant antimicrobial activities and properties, supporting such folkloric use in disease treatment and traditional medicines (Kumar et al., 2006).

The bark is used as tanning material, often in conjunction with avaram, in India, Pakistan and other places (Kumar et al., 2006; Flora of Pakistan, 2014). Wood ash of the species is used as mordant in dyeing in Pakistan, and in Bengal the pulp of pods is used to flavour tobacco (Flora of Pakistan, 2014).

Since the species is not browsed by domestic animals, it has been reportedly suitable for revegetating land that has become degraded through overgrazing (Troup and Joshi, 1983).

In Hong Kong and across Asian countries, the plant is widely cultivated as an ornamental and timber plant, and the roots, bark, seeds, leaves and pulp from ripe pods are used medicinally (Wu, 2001; PIER, 2014). The flowers are used in religious ceremonies in India and Bangladesh, and the flowers and buds are also eaten as food.

The species provides a useful timber which is widely used on a local scale within its natural distribution as well as in tropical America. The wood is heavy to very heavy, hard and strong (Rawat and Rawat, 1960). The wood is used for many products and tools including wheels and shafts of carts, turnery, tool handles, ploughs, harrows and rollers (Troup, 1913), house building posts, rice pounders, bows, for boat spars, and bed plates for machinery; also for tent poles and tent pegs, toys and carvings (Rao and Purkayastha, 1972), for making high-grade charcoal (Troup, 1913) and for boat building, furniture, pick-axe and axe handles, mallet heads, railway keys and similar articles where strength and toughness are primary considerations (Pearson and Brown, 1981); however, the limited availability of the species means that it is not widely traded on a commercial scale.