Pajanelia multijuga (Wallich) DC.

An evergreen or briefly deciduous, small to medium-sized, glabrous, sparingly branched tree up to 30(-36) m tall; bole up to 115 cm in diameter, without buttresses; bark surface shallowly fissured and lenticellate, grey, inner bark soft, light green. Twigs massive, with large leaf scars; innovations resinous. Leaves opposite, crowded at the end of twigs, exstipulate, pinnate; rachis and petiole sharply keeled above; leaflets opposite or alternate, with a very asymmetrical base and large glands along the midrib below. Flowers in a terminal thyrse up to 1 m long, large, 5-merous, pale yellowish, with a soapy odour; calyx closed in bud, with 5 irregular lobes; corolla zygomorphous, with a broad, dull greenish-red tube, with 5 crisped lobes, pubescent except at base; stamens 4 and a 5th rudimentary one, inserted about halfway up the corolla tube; disk annular; ovary superior, 2-locular with many ovules, style 1. Fruit a large dagger-shaped capsule with a septum, the valves broadly winged, leathery. Seeds in several rows, hyaline-winged. Seedling with epigeal germination; hypocotyl elongated; first leaves opposite and simple, subsequent ones pinnate.

Flowering has been observed from January to April and in August, fruiting in March to April and in August. Pollination of the nocturnal flowers seems to be by nectarivorous bats, as pollen has been identified in guano samples in Peninsular Malaysia. The seeds seem adapted to wind dispersal but the numerous seedlings observed in coconut stands along the shore suggest they are also dispersed by water.

Pajanelia is found locally common in primary but more often in secondary lowland to montane rain forest, but has also been encountered in monsoon forest, coconut stands near the sea and more open country. It occurs scattered along rivers and along the edges of coastal forest,

Pajanelia is a monotypic genus occurring from southern India and Sri Lanka through Burma (Myanmar), the Andaman Islands and Thailand towards Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, northern Sumatra and the Natuna Islands. It was erroneously reported from the Philippines. The single species is P. longifolia (Willd.) K. Schumann.

It can be propagated by seed, but is rarely planted, e.g. in Aceh, Sumatra.

Boundary or barrier or support: In parts of Malaysia it is commonly planted as stakes for hedges along rice fields.

Medicine: In parts of Malaysia, similar to Oroxylum indicum (L.) Kurz, a hot decoction of the leaves is used externally against stomach disorders. In the Natuna Islands a decoction of the leaves is used against fever. Timber: The wood of P. longifolia has been used in the Andaman Islands for house building, planking and canoes. In the Natuna Island the timber is esteemed for boat building.