Changes

The oil is odourless, tasteless and does not become rancid in storage, making it an excellent base in perfumery and pharmacology. It was formerly used as a base-oil in enfleurage to extract fragrant volatile compounds from flowers. The seed contains 36–45% oil; the approximate fatty acid composition of the oil is: palmitic acid 8%, stearic acid 9%, oleic acid 74%, linoleic acid 1%, arachidic acid 3%, behenic acid 3%.

Small, deciduous tree up to 10(–18) m tall with a swollen bole and short branches near the top; bark whitish, containing resin. Leaves alternate, 3-pinnate; stipules absent; petiole 10–15 cm long, stalks of pinnae 2–3 cm long, petiolules 3–4 mm long, all glabrous and with glands at base; leaflets opposite, ovate to oblong, 15–30 mm × 5–12 mm, base cuneate, apex acute, glabrous, bright green. Inflorescence an axillary, lax, many-flowered panicle up to 30 cm long. Flowers bisexual, regular, 5-merous, yellowish white; pedicel up to 2 mm long; sepals free, obovate, 5–6 mm × c. 2 mm, narrowing to the base, apex rounded, glabrous; petals free, ovate, 7–10 mm × c. 2 mm, apex incurved, glabrescent outside, slightly short-hairy inside; stamens 5, free, 6–8 mm long, hairy, alternating with 5 staminodes c. 4 mm long; ovary superior, stalked, ovoid, c. 1.5 mm long, 1-celled, style slender, 3–4 mm long. Fruit an elongate capsule 30–50 cm long, somewhat trigonous, narrowed between the seeds, with a beak, glabrous, dehiscent with 3 valves. Seeds trigonous to ovoid, 2–2.5 cm × c. 2 cm, whitish, glabrous.