Distribution and habitat: Seen in many parts of India. Often cultivated in Ceylon, tropical Africa etc.

Botany: An erect shrub; branches slender, zigzag and downy. 

• Leaf: Broader than long divided a little less than half a down into two rounded lobes, glabrous above, pubescent beneath, base truncate or rarely sub cordate, petioles long pubescent thickened at both ends.
• Flower: Bell-shaped, bright yellow flowers with a black to deep maroon coloured centre. Usually in pairs, on short axillary or leaf opposed peduncles; bracts linear, long, pedicels long, two bracteolate. Calyx long, velvety, pubescent; petals long, much imbricated, obovate, spathulate, yellow, the upper with a purple blotch on the face. Stamens 10, all fertile, sub equal. Ovary distinctly stout, densely tomentose; style long, stigma peltate. Pods stalked, flat, slightly puberulous when fully ripe, veined.
• Fruits: Pods dehiscent; stipe 10-12.5 cm long, tomentose or glabrous
• Seed: Greenish brown, oblong,rounded at the apex, 0.5 mm- 0.6 mm in diameter

Chemical constituents: Flower- quercetin, isoquercetin, rutin, Seed- ebony oil, saponins, mucilage.

Uses: The fruit is diuretic. Seed is aphrodisiac. The bruised bark is externally applied on tumours and wounds. Seed is used for wound healing. 

Propagation:  By seeds