Category: A

Aegle marmelos (L.) Correa (RUTACEAE)

Common names
Sanskrit: Bilva.
Kannada: Bilva patre.
Tamil: Vilvam.
Telugu: Marendu, Bilvapandu.

Description: Armed deciduous trees, up to 12 m tall with axillary spines. Leaves alternate, pinnately 3-foliolate; leaf rachis up to 6 cm long; leaflets elliptic, terminal ones ca 13×6.5 cm, the laterals ca 7 x 4 cm, oblique at base, obtusely acuminate at apex, slightly crenate along the margin, glandular-punetate. Panicles up to 8 cm long. Flowers white, fragrant. Calyx cupular, with 5 small deltate or suborbicular teeth, caducous. Petals 4 or 5, ovate-oblong, up to 12×16 mm, obtuse, glandular. Stamens 30-40 in irregular 2 or 3 series, free or irregularly coherent at base, unequal; anthers apiculate, Ovary ovoid-oblong, 8-12 (-20) locular; locules with many biseriate ovules; stigma cylindric or bluntly conical. Berries subglobose or oblate, 5-10 cm across, with hard, woody, grey or yellowish pericarp, many-seeded. The seeds are oblong, flattened, and found within a sweet, dense, orange or flesh-colored mucilaginous pulp; their testa is white and wooly-pubescent.

Flowering: January – May
Fruiting: June – November

Distribution: India: Almost throughout. Sri Lanka, Myanmar. Widely cultivated in S.E. Asia, Malaysia, tropical Africa and United States.

Uses: Regarded as sacred by Hindus and its leaves are used for various rituals. Wood is used for making pestles for oil and sugar mills, parts of carts and for agricultural implements. The mucilaginous substance surrounding the seeds is an adhesive which is used as a varnish for pictures and water-color paints.Root and root bark used for treatment of intermittent fever; leaves used for treatment of opthalmia; leaf extract applied in catarrhs and fever; unripe fruit astringent, stomachic digestive and used for treating chronic diarrhoea and dysentery; ripe fruits nutritious and cooling; pulp of ripe fruits effective in dyspepsia.

Adenanthera pavonina L. (MIMOSACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Mara manjetti, Dodda gulaganji.
Malayalam: Manchadi.
Tamil: Ani kundamani
Telugu: Bandi gurivenda.

Description: Towering deciduous trees reaching heights of 15-20 meters, characterized by their grey bark. Leaves bipinnate, opposite, 20-30 cm long; petioles 5-10 cm long; pinnae 3-6 pairs; leaflets 4-8 pairs, alternate, elliptic oblong, 2.5 – 4 x 0.8 – 2.0 cm, shortly cuneate at base, obtuse at apex, glabrous, dark green above, glaucous beneath; petiolules ca 0.8 cm long. Flowers in 5-15 cm long short-peduncled axillary or panicled spiciform racemes, pale at the ends of branches, yellow. Calyx 5 short, campanulate, 5-lobed. Petals 5, united at the base, linear-lanceolate, acute, valvate. Stamens 10, free; anthers ending in a stipitate glands. Ovary sessile, many-ovuled; style filiform; stigma small, terminal. Fruit a dehiscing pod, flat, 15-23 x 1.5 – 2 cm, falcately curved, pointed, tapering to the base. Seeds 8-15, lenticular-globose, ca 0.8 cm diam., smooth, shining, brilliant scarlet.

Flowering & Fruiting: July – October.

Distribution: India: Western Peninsula. Commonly cultivated in gardens and avenues; run wild.
Sri Lanka, China, Malaya islands, Timor and Philippines.

Uses: The heart wood is red and is used as a substitute for true red sandalwood (Pterocarpus santalinus L. f.). The wood is used for building purposes and for cabinet making. Commonly cultivated in gardens and avenues run wild. Seeds used as beads and weights by goldsmiths. Leaf astringent, used in rheumatism, diarrhoea, gout, haemorrhage from the bowels and haematuria; seed anti-inflammatory, anticephalagic, used in boils and prickly heat; decoction of seeds and wood used in pulmonary affection and externally applied in chronic ophthalmia.

Actinodaphne malabarica Balakr. (LAURACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Kaadu sampige

Description: Large trees, up to 20 m tall. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, up to 21 x 6.5 cm, cuneate at base, acuminate at apex, fulvous pubescent beneath. Inflorescence of subracemose umbels. Flowers unisexual. Perianth 6-lobed, yellow; lobes ovate or oblong. There are 9 stamens arranged in 3 whorls. The berry is globose, approximately 7 mm across, and positioned on the perianth tube.

Flowering: September – March.

Distribution: India: In evergreen and semi-evergreen forests across the Western Ghats. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic.

Acronychia pedunculata (L.) Miq. (RUTACEAE)

Common Names
Tamil: Muttanari
Malayalam: Vidu kaneli

Description: Small evergreen trees, up to 8 m tall; bark grey, glossy, smooth or lenticellate. Leaves opposite, 1- foliolate, 6.5 – 21 cm long; petioles 1-3 cm long, horizontally grooved above, swollen at both ends; leaflet blade elliptic-obovate or elliptic-oblong, up to 19 x 9 cm, acute to cuneate at base, abruptly and shortly acuminate at apex, entire, gland-dotted, glabrous secondary; nerves 12-20 pairs. Flowers in axillary or terminal 5 – 18 cm long paniculate corymbose cymes, greenish white. Sepals 4, connate below, suborbicular, obtuse, puberscent, persistent. Petals 4, valvate, linear-oblong from a broader base, obtuse at apex, concave, glabrous, cream-yellowish. Stamens 8, inserted at base of disc; anthers basifixed. Disc 8-angled. Ovary 4 – lobed, 4-locular, each with 2 ovules. The fruit is a drupe, typically subglobose, ovoid, or ellipsoid, measuring up to 1.2 cm across. When ripe, it appears green, later transitioning from a dark-brownish hue to black as it dries. The seeds, numbering between 2 to 4, are ovoid and green.

Flowering and Fruiting: February- May.

Destribution: India : In evergreen and semi-evergreen forests at altitudes ranging from sea level to 2065 m. Uttara Pradesh, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura, Orissa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, N. Vietnam, S. Vietnam, China, Sumatra, Malaya peninsula, Borneo, Philippines, Celebes and Papua.

Uses: The tender leaves are used as condiment. Charcoal obtained from the wood burns clean and is therefore preferred by goldsmiths. The leaves yield an aromatic essential oil. Root and bark used in external application for sores and ulcers; bark tonic and used in scabies.