Plants evergreen trees 3-24 m tall. Leaves 5-12(-16) cm long; leaflets about 10-18 pairs, (0.8-)1.2-3.2 cm long, 0.3-1.1 cm wide, usually glabrous or nearly so. Racemes 1-15(-22) cm long. Calyx 0.1-1.2 cm long, reddish outside; large petals 1-1.3 cm long, elliptic or obovate-elliptic, golden with red veins. Pods (3-)6.5-14 cm long, 2-3 cm wide, 1-10-seeded. Seeds chestnut brown, 11-17 mm long, 10-12 mm wide.
Tamarindus indica is native to tropical Africa and possibly also in Asia. It is now widely cultivated fin tropical and tropical regions both as an ornamental and for its fruit. The pulpy part of the pods is used for preserves, in cooking, and as a cooling, mildly laxative drink. The seeds are also edible. The wood is hard and dirable and is used in construction and for furniture.
In Somaliland and Somalia, Tamarindus indica grows in grasslands, woodlands, and Acacia-Commiphora bushland, frequently in riparian areas, at elevations up to 1700 m. Thulin recorded it from regions N1, N3, and S1-S3.
