Calophyllum apetalum Willd. (GUTTIFERAE)
Common names
Sanskrit: Jothishmathi.
Kannada: Holehone, Surahonne.
Tamil: Siru pinnai.
Malayalam: Cherupinna.
Description: Trees, up to 30 m tall; bole cylindrical; bark yellowish, very thick and characteristic with boat-shaped furrows and lenticels; exudate white or yellowish. Leaves opposite, ovate, obovate or oblong to elliptic, 5-20×2.5-5 cm, truncate to rounded to rarely acute to cuneate at base, obtuse-retuse or emarginated at apex, glabrous; venation close, veins most prominent on lower surface; petioles deeply canaliculated above. Flowers small, in 5-13- flowered, 4-7 cm long axillary racemes, bisexual, white. Sepals 4 (rarely 3), prominently veined, biseriate, 2 outer broadly ovate to orbicular, two inner boat-shaped, elliptic to obovate, white, petaloid. Petals absent, rarely 3, 4 or 5, small, caducous. Stamens numerous (40 – 85), many seriate; anthers rounded or mucronulate at apex. The fruit is a drupe, either ovoid or ellipsoid, measuring 1-2 x 1 cm, smooth-textured, red when mature, and turning a greyish-green when dried. The solitary seed is ovoid to ellipsoid, smooth, and measures 7.5-13 x 5-7 mm.
Flowering & Fruiting: September – May.
Distribution: Common along the banks of rivers and streams in evergreen forests and backwaters along west coast at low elevations up to 600 m (1300 m). Maharashtra, Karnataka Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic. A threatened species.
Uses: Ripe fruits are sweet and eaten locally. Seed oil greenish yellow with a characteristic odour, used as fuel for lamps. Wood pale reddish white or pale reddish brown with darker streaks, used for construction, bridges, boats, oil-mills, cabinet work, building purposes and also for making matchboxes. Resin used as a vulnerary, resolutive and anodyne; seed oil is used for treating rheumatism and leprosy.