Sahajan / Moringa
Moringa oleifera
Also known as Drumstick Tree, Horse Raddish Tree, Ben Oil Tree, Coatli, Oil Of Ben Tree
- Habit
- Tree
- Found in India
- Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala & more
- Flowering
- Throughout the year
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Moringa oleifera
- Genus
- Moringa
- Family
- Moringaceae
- Habit
- Tree
- Habitat
- Cultivated
- Habitat type
- Cultivated
- Distribution
- Tropical Countries
- Found in India
- Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar, West Bengal, Delhi, Odisha, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Tripura, Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh, Puducherry, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Lakshadweep, Sikkim
- Flowering & fruiting
- Throughout the year
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf type
- Tripinnately compoundrecordedThree times pinnately divided; the leaflets of a bipinnate leaf are themselves pinnate.“The tree has an open crown of drooping, fragile branches, and the leaves build up a feathery foliage of tripinnate leaves.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Typical of the family
- Arrangement
- Alternate
Characters marked “recorded” are for Sahajan itself; the rest are typical of the Moringaceae family.
Flower & fruit characters
- Fruit type
- CapsulerecordedA dry fruit from a fused ovary that splits open at maturity to release seeds.“The fruit is a hanging, three-sided, brown, 20–45 cm (8–17+1⁄2 in) capsule, which holds dark brown, globular seeds with a diameter around 1 cm.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Zygomorphic (bilaterally symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Panicle
- Fruit
- Capsule
Characters marked “recorded” are for Sahajan itself; the rest are typical of the Moringaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Hindi
- सेंजन Senjana, murungai,सहजन sahajan
- Nepali
- सैजन
- Bengali
- সজনে
- Tamil
- முறுங்கை Murungai, முருங்கை, முருங்கைக்கீரை
- Telugu
- Mochakamu, Mulaga, Mulaga chettu, మునగ చెట్టు
- Kannada
- ನುಗ್ಗೆ Nugge, ನುರ್ಗೆ Nugge, ಗುಗ್ಗಳ Guggala, ನುಗ್ಗೆಕಾಯಿ ಮರ
- Malayalam
- Muringai, മുരിങ്ങ
- Marathi
- शेवगा Shevga, शेवगा
- Sanskrit
- शिग्रुः
- Gujarati
- સેંજણું
- Odia
- ସେଜନା
- Punjabi
- Sohanjna, ਸੋਹਜਨਾ
- Assamese
- সজনা
- Urdu
- سہجنہ
- Sinhala
- මුරුංගා
Sahajan in India
The drumstick tree is a backyard food tree across much of India — सेंजन Senjana (Hindi), முறுங்கை Murungai (Tamil), Mochakamu (Telugu), ನುಗ್ಗೆ Nugge (Kannada), Muringai (Malayalam), शेवगा Shevga (Marathi). Moringa oleifera is widely grown and recorded across Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana, Rajasthan, valued because nearly every part is edible and it grows fast from a cutting.
Uses
The long ribbed pods ('drumsticks') are a key vegetable in sambar and many South Indian dishes, and the leaves are cooked as a nutritious green. Moringa is also widely promoted as a nutritional plant and appears in traditional medicine — attributed uses rather than medical claims.
How to Identify Sahajan
A slender, soft-wooded tree with feathery, much-divided leaves of small rounded leaflets and fragrant cream-white flowers. The unmistakable feature is the fruit: long, slender, three-angled pods that hang like sticks, giving the tree its English name.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is Drumstick Tree called in different Indian languages?
- सेंजन Senjana (Hindi); முறுங்கை Murungai (Tamil); Mochakamu (Telugu); ನುಗ್ಗೆ Nugge (Kannada); Muringai (Malayalam); शेवगा Shevga (Marathi); সজনে (Bengali); સેંજણું (Gujarati); ସେଜନା (Odia); Sohanjna (Punjabi); शिग्रुः (Sanskrit).
- Which parts of the drumstick tree can you eat?
- The young pods, the leaves and the flowers are all eaten in Indian cooking; the leaves in particular are valued as a nutritious green.
- How fast does moringa grow?
- Very fast — it grows easily from seed or a hard cutting and can reach several metres within a year in warm Indian conditions.
Moringaceae
Moringa Family
Sahajan belongs to the Moringaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
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Common plant problems
All plant problem & care guides →More in Moringaceae
View all Moringaceae →Sources: GBIF — Moringa oleifera (India distribution & vernacular names) (CC BY 4.0) · iNaturalist — Moringa oleifera (regional names, India observations) (CC BY 4.0) · Wikipedia — Moringa oleifera (background/comprehension only) (CC BY-SA 4.0)