Pterocarpus indicus Seeds | Narra

Narra (Pterocarpus indicus) with a broad dome crown, bronze new leaves and circular winged pods — Narra (*Pterocarpus indicus*): Fabaceae, the rosewood giant of the Asian lowlands, avenue shade, cabinet timber and circular-winged pods.

LATIN NAME: Pterocarpus indicus

COMMON NAME: Narra, Amboyna Wood, New Guinea Rosewood, Burmese Rosewood

Plant Profile

Narra is one of the great trees of the Asian lowlands: thirty to forty metres in old forest, its trunk straight and buttressed, its crown a vast dome of fine pinnate leaves that flush bronze at each new growth wave before settling to glossy green. In the dry season it may drop its leaves and flower on the bare branches, covering the crown in loose sprays of small, sweetly scented yellow blooms that pull bees from across the neighbourhood.

The fruit identifies the genus: a flat circular pod the size of a coaster, papery all the way round a single hard seed at the centre, so that ripe pods spin away on the wind. The heartwood behind all this is the famous part, orange-red rosewood of the first rank, with the marbled burl sold as amboyna among the most expensive cabinet timbers in the trade.

Science & Biotechnology

Its legume biology does quiet work: root nodules with nitrogen-fixing bacteria let narra colonise poor and disturbed ground, which is one reason it anchors reforestation programmes across Southeast Asia. The timber science is heavier. Heartwood colour and natural durability both derive from phenolic extractives laid down as the tree ages, and plantation trials have tested how far fast-grown stock approaches the wild-cut standard, while wood anatomy and DNA barcoding studies now serve a forensic purpose, separating legally harvested narra from rosewood lookalikes in a trade that is difficult to police on sight.

Trade pressure matters: rosewood demand has stripped large trees from most of the native range, and international controls on rosewood species have tightened accordingly.

Uses & Benefits

The uses divide by scale. In the city it is the avenue tree of Manila and Kuala Lumpur: fast, wide-shading, flowering on schedule. On the land it fixes nitrogen, feeds livestock with fallen pods and leaves, and yields the red kino gum that folk medicine used as an astringent for mouth and gut complaints. In the timber trade it is a genuine rosewood, grown now mainly in plantation rotations because the old giants are nearly gone.

One siting caution comes with the package: the wood is light and branches snap in typhoon wind, so plant it away from buildings and power lines.

Growing from Seed

The hard seed coat must be broken. Nick each seed opposite the eye with a file, or dip it in water just off the boil and let it soak for a day, then sow two centimetres deep in a free-draining mix held at twenty-five to thirty degrees. Germination follows within two to four weeks and is usually strong from fresh seed.

Seedlings throw a deep taproot immediately, so start them in deep containers and pot on before the root stalls. Grow in full sun with generous water in the establishment year, stake at planting, and expect a metre or more of growth annually in the right climate. It is strictly frost-free territory, though established trees take short droughts with ease.

Our Take

A tree that gives shade in five years and rosewood at the end of a rotation, asking only heat, sun and a big footprint. Scarify the seed, deep-pot the seedlings, and keep it clear of the power lines.

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