Barringtonia acutangula (L.) Gaertner (LECYTHIDACEAE)
Common names
Kannada: Hole kowa mara, Samudra phala.
Malayalam: Nir perzha.
Sanskrit: Dhatriphala.
Tamil: Adampa, Kadappai.
Telugu: Kurpa.
Description: Trees, up to 15 m tall. Leaves alternate, obovate, rarely elliptic, up to 14 x 5.5 cm, cuneate at base, rounded, acute or acuminate at apex, margins crenate. Flowers in elongated, up to 40 cm long, pendulous racemes, pink, fragrant. Calyx lobes 4, oblong. Petals 4. Stamens very numerous in many rows, connate below. Ovary inferior. The berries are fibrous, four-sided, widest at the center, with flat ends, reaching lengths of up to 3 centimeters, topped by small, enduring calyx lobes. Each berry contains a single seed.
Flowering & Fruiting: September – December.
Distribution: India: Almost throughout. Frequent along coastal rivers; less common in the interior. Tropical Asia to N. Australia.
Uses: Wood white, soft with pretty silver grain, used for furniture. Root aperient; root and seed expectorant; bark used in gum troubles; leaf and root bitter tonic; leaf and seed used in diarrhoea; fruit astringent, stimulant, emetic, used in cold, nasal catarrh; seed used in opthalmia, colic, parturition, powdered seed used as an emetic and expectorant. In Ayurveda fruit, root and leaves are used in diseases of head, hemiplegia, pain in joints, eye diseases, jaundice, stomach disorders, diarrhoea, blood disorders, cough, dyspnoea, leprosy, intermittent fever, splenic disorders and poisoning.
