Tamarind is a handsome introduced shade tree of lowlands, mainly in dry areas, where it has escaped from cultivation. It has a dense crown of blue green feathery, pinnate leaves, showy pale yellow flowers tinged with red, giving a yellowish color to the tree, and thick brown pods with sour edible pulp. Medium-sized evergreen tree to 40 ft (12 m) high and 2 ft (0.6 m) in trunk diameter, with rounded crown of dense foliage. Bark gray or brown, rough, thick, much fissured. Sapwood is light yellow and moderately soft, and the small heartwood dark purplish brown. The wood is de scribed as very hard, heavy (sp. gr. 0.9), and takes a fine polish. It is strong and durable, although very susceptible to attack by dry-wood termites. It has been used occasionally in Hawaii for chopping blocks and rated as excellent. The wood is used in other tropical areas chiefly for fuel and is reported to generate great heat. In other places where the species is sufficiently common, the wood is employed for construction, tool handles, furniture, and articles in wood turning but is considered very difficult to work. Gunpowder was formerly manufactured from its charcoal.