OROXYLUM INDICUM/ SYONAKAM is a species of flowering plant. The large leaf stalks wither and fall off the tree and collect near the base of the trunk, appearing to look like a pile of broken limb bones. The pinnate leaves are approximately 1 metre (3.3 ft) in length and comparably wide, borne on petioles or stalks up to 2 metres (6.6 ft) in length, making this the largest of all dicot tree leaves, which are quadripinnate (leaflets display four orders of branching).
The tree is a night-bloomer and flowers are adapted to natural pollination by bats. They form enormous seed pods – the fruits – are up to 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) long that hang down from bare branches, resembling swords. The long fruits curve downward and resemble the wings of a large bird or dangling sickles or swords in the night, giving the name “tree of Damocles”. The seeds are round with papery wings.

USES :

Root bark of Oroxylum indicum  is an astringent, tonic, anti-diarrhoeal, diuretic, anodyne, and is used to cure dropsy. It is an ingredient of ‘dashamoolarishta’ of Ayurvedic medicine. Stem bark is anti-rheumatic. An infusion of bark powder is diaphoretic.