Millettia pinnata
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![Millettia pinnata is renowned for its shade and is well known in traditional uses for its medicinal properties. It is also grown as a host plant for lac insects. The tree is also one of the food plants for Common Cerulean (Jamides celeno). The seeds contain pongam oil that is now being explored as an alternate fuel source.](/Images/godic/202501/20/Pongamia_pinnata3838.jpg")
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![](/Images/godic/202501/20/Sugarcane_field3838.jpg")
Millettia pinnata is a species of tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, native in tropical and temperate Asia including parts of Indian subcontinent, China, Japan, Malesia, Australia and Pacific islands. It is often known by the synonym Pongamia pinnata as it was moved to the genus Millettia only recently. Common names include Indian beech, Pongam oiltree, karanj (Hindi), honge (ಹೊಂಗೆ in Kannada), pungai (புங்கை in Tamil), kānuga (కానుగ in Telugu), karach (করচ গাছ in Bengali), naktamāla (नक्तमाल in Sanskrit).