What is "cassia fistula"

Pudding \Pud"ding\, n. [Cf. F. boudin black pudding, sausage, L. botulus, botellus, a sausage, G. & Sw. pudding pudding, Dan. podding, pudding, LG. puddig thick, stumpy, W. poten, potten, also E. pod, pout, v.]

1. A species of food of a soft or moderately hard consistence, variously made, but often a compound of flour or meal, with milk and eggs, etc.

   And solid pudding against empty praise.
   --Pope.

2. Anything resembling, or of the softness and consistency of, pudding.

3. An intestine; especially, an intestine stuffed with meat, etc.; a sausage.
   --Shak.

4. Any food or victuals.

   Eat your pudding, slave, and hold your tongue.
   --Prior.

5. (Naut.) Same as Puddening. Pudding grass (Bot.), the true pennyroyal ( Mentha Pulegium), formerly used to flavor stuffing for roast meat. --Dr. Prior. Pudding pie, a pudding with meat baked in it. --Taylor (1630). Pudding pipe (Bot.), the long, cylindrical pod of the leguminous tree Cassia Fistula. The seeds are separately imbedded in a sweetish pulp. See Cassia. Pudding sleeve, a full sleeve like that of the English clerical gown. --Swift. Pudding stone. (Min.) See Conglomerate, n., 2. Pudding time.

   1. The time of dinner, pudding being formerly the dish first eaten. [Obs.]
      --Johnson.

   2. The nick of time; critical time. [Obs.]

      Mars, that still protects the stout, In pudding time came to his aid.
      --Hudibras.

canafistola \canafistola\, canafistula \canafistula\n. a deciduous or semi-evergreen tree ( Cassia fistula) having scented sepia to yellow flowers in drooping racemes and pods whose pulp is used medicinally; it grows in tropical Asia, Central and South America, and Australia.

Syn: golden shower tree, drumstick tree, purging cassia, pudding pipe tree, canafistola.

Cassia \Cas"sia\ (k[a^]sh"[.a]), n. [L. cassia and casia, Gr. kassi`a and kasi`a; of Semitic origin; cf. Heb. qets[=i][=a]h, fr. q[=a]tsa' to cut off, to peel off.]

1. (Bot.) A genus of leguminous plants (herbs, shrubs, or trees) of many species, most of which have purgative qualities. The leaves of several species furnish the senna used in medicine.

2. The bark of several species of Cinnamomum grown in China, etc.; Chinese cinnamon. It is imported as cassia, but commonly sold as cinnamon, from which it differs more or less in strength and flavor, and the amount of outer bark attached.

   Note: The medicinal ``cassia'' (Cassia pulp) is the laxative pulp of the pods of a leguminous tree ( Cassia fistula or Pudding-pipe tree), native in the East Indies but naturalized in various tropical countries.

   Cassia bark, the bark of Cinnamomum cassia, etc. The coarser kinds are called Cassia lignea, and are often used to adulterate true cinnamon.

   Cassia buds, the dried flower buds of several species of cinnamon ( Cinnamomum cassia, atc..).

   Cassia oil, oil extracted from cassia bark and cassia buds; -- called also oil of cinnamon.

Cassia fistula, known as the golden rain tree and by other names, is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. The species is native to the Indian subcontinent and adjacent regions of Southeast Asia. It ranges from southern Pakistan eastward throughout India to Myanmar and Thailand and south to Sri Lanka. In ancient Tamil literature, it is called கொன்றை (kondrai) and is closely associated with the Mullai (forest) region of Sangam landscape. It is the national tree of Thailand, and its flower is Thailand's national flower. It is also the state flower of Kerala in India and of immense importance amongst the Malayali population. It is a popular ornamental plant and is also used in herbal medicine.