Canarium strictum Roxb. (BURSERACEAE)
Common names
English: Black dammar, Black dhup, Indian white mahagony.
Sanskrit: Raladhupa
Kannada: Kari dhup, Halemaddu, Raala dhupa.
Tamil: Attam, Karunkungiliyam.
Malayalam: Karuthukungiliyam, Thellim.
Telugugu: Nalla rojanamu.
Description: Large trees, 20-30 (-50) m tall, buttressed; branches tawny tomentose. Leaf rachis up to 35 cm long; leaflets (5-) 7-11, ovate to ovate-elliptic, ovate-lanceolate, oblong-obovate, lanceolate or oblanceolate, 7 -22 x 4 – 10 cm, rounded at base, shortly acuminate at apex, coriaceous, tawny pubescent beneath; nerves prominent beneath. Flowers in axillary up to 40 cm long, thyrsoid, sometimes racemose, inflorescence, unisexual or bisexual, white or pale-green with mangiferous odour. Calyx lobes 3. Petals 3, oblong-lanceolate, pubescent outside. The disk is covered in fine hairs. The fruit is a drupe, oblong-ellipsoid, reaching up to 4 x 1.8 cm, and is dark blue. It contains a single elongated seed.
Flowering & Fruiting: January – December
Distribution: India: In moist evergreen forests. Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Orissa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Myanmar. Well seasoned timber is used for making boards, for ceiling, flooring and partitions.
Uses: The resin from the tree called black dammar of commerce is used in the manufacture of varnishes, bottling wax and as a substitute for Burgundy pitch in plasters. It is used for caulking boats. Decoction or powdered resin is given internally as a remedy in rheumatism, cough, fever, epilepsy, asthma, syphilis, blood impurities, various poisons, hernia, haemorrage and to improve complexion.