Ochreinauclea missionis (Wallich ex G. Don) Ridsd. (RUBIACEAE)
Common names
Kannada: Anavu.
Malayalam & Tamil: Attuvanji, Neer vanji.
Sanskrit: Jaladamsha.
Description: Trees, up to 20 m tall with smooth brown bark. Leaves opposite, elliptic-lanceolate, 10-18 x 4-7 cm, acute at base, rounded to acute at apex, glabrous, shining above, nerves 10-12 pairs; petioles ca 1.5 cm long; stipules persistent. Flowers crowded in globose, usually solitary, terminal heads, yellowish-white, fragrant. Calyx tube turbinate, tomentose, lobes 5. Corolla tube, funnel-shaped, tomentose, lobes 5. Stamens 5, on the throat of the corolla. The ovary is 2-locular with a filiform style and a capitate stigma. The fruit is a fleshy, globose mass of 2-celled pyrenes, appearing yellow when ripe. Numerous ovoid seeds are present.
Flowering : April – August.
Fruiting : October – December.
Distribution: India: West coast, in Malabar and Travancore, up to 500 m, on river banks.
Uses: Stem-bark antileprotic, antirheumatic, in constipation, ulcers; root, root bark antirheumatic, in skin diseases, eye diseases, dropsy, piles, fever, jaundice, oedema and haemophilic disorders.