Description from
Flora of China
Pahudia xylocarpa Kurz, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 45: 290. 1877; Afzelia cochinchinensis (Pierre) J. Léonard; P. cochinchinensis Pierre.
Trees, 15-25 m tall, sometimes to 40 m tall. Trunk ca. 90 cm d.b.h. Bark brown. Petiolules short, less than 5 mm; leaflets 3-5 pairs, opposite, ovate or broadly elliptic to suborbicular, 4-14 × 3.5-6 cm, papery, base rounded and slightly oblique, apex rounded or emarginate. Inflorescence densely grayish yellow-green or grayish white puberulent; bracts and bracteoles per-sistent, ovate or triangular-ovate, equal in size, ca. 6 mm. Calyx tube 1-1.3 cm; lobes elliptic, 1-1.5 cm, apex rounded. Petal pale purple, obovate to suborbicular; claw white villous. Stamens 7, united at base; filaments exserted, 3-3.5 cm, pubescent in lower part. Ovary narrowly oblong, hairy; style elongated and exserted. Legume blackish brown, compressed, oblong, 11-17 × 7-8.5 cm, hard. Seeds 2-5, deep brownish red, shiny, slightly compressed, ovoid or suborbicular, ca. 2 cm. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Nov-Dec.
The seeds are used for carving; the plant is also used medicinally for relieving toothaches and eye diseases.
Cultivated. Guangdong (Maoming, Xuwen), Guangxi (Hepu, Nanning), Hainan, Yunnan (Shiping, Xishuangbanna) [native to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam].
