Sapang is a small tree, 3 to 5 meters high, with scattered spines. Leaves are compound, up to 50 centimeters long. Pinnae are about 20, opposite, and 10 to 20 centimeters long. Leaflets are 20 to 30, obliquely oblong to oblong-rhomboid. Flowers are yellow, on terminal panicles, 2 to 2.5 centimeters in diameter with densely wooly filaments. Fruit is a hard, indehiscent, shiny pod, about 7 centimeters long, and 3.5 to 4 centimeters wide, with a hard recurved beak at the upper angle.
Distribution
- Locally abundant throughout the Philippines at low and medium altitudes in dry thickets, parang, etc.
- Introduced, and probably of prehistoric introduction.
- Also occurs in India through Burma, Thailand, Indo-China, southern China to Malaysia.
Source: Stuartxchange.org