Category: H

Hydnocarpus pentandra (Buch. – Ham.) Oken (FLACOURTIACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Chaulmoogra yenne mara, Suranti.
Sanskrit: Garudaphala, Tuvrak.
Tamil: Maravattai, Niradimattu.
Telugu: Adi-badam, Niradi.

Description: Dioecious trees reaching heights of up to 25 meters; their young parts are covered in brown pubescence. The leaves are ovate-elliptic, elliptic-oblong, oblong, or lanceolate, measuring up to 25 x 10 cm. They have a cuneate or obtuse base and an obtusely acuminate apex, featuring serrated edges. Male flowers in axillary, 3-6 each in 2-3 racemose fascicles atop a densely ferruginous tomentose peduncle, greenish, ca 6 mm across. Sepals 5, unequal. Petals 5, ovate to suborbicular, concave, ciliate along margins, smaller than sepals; epipetalous scales almost equal to petals. Stamens 5. Ovary rudimentary, densely pilose. Female flowers solitary or binate, ca 1 cm across. Staminodes 5. Ovary ovoid, beaked at apex, densely yellowish pilose; stigmas 5-lobed. Berries globose, 5-10 cm across, reddish brown, scurfy, tomentose. Seeds 15-20, ovoid – oblong, longitudinally striated, up to 2.2 x 1.5 cm.

Flowering & Fruiting: February – October.

Distribution: India: In moist deciduous and semi-evergreen forests of Western Ghatsup to 850 m, often near water courses. Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic. A threatened species.

Uses: Seeds yield a yellow oil used for burning lamps. Wood used for building purposes and packing cases. The wood is used as a fuel. Fruits are used as fish poison. Seeds yield hydnocarpus or chaulmoogra oil, used in leprosy. Seed oil is also anti-inflammatory, alterative, tonic, used as local application is rheumatism, sprains, braises, sciatica and chest affections. Seed and seed oil are also used in leucoderma, worm infection, polyuria, pruritus, eye diseases and sinus wounds.

Hymenodictyon obovatum Wallich (RUBIACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Gandele, Hiremara.

Description: Small or medium-sized deciduous trees, up to 8 m tall with grey bark. Leaves obovate or elliptic, 10-15 x 4-8 cm, cuneate at base, acuminate at apex, glabrescent; main nerves 6-8 pairs; petioles 2.5-5 cm long; stipules obovate-oblong with glandular margins. Flowers small in sessile clusters along the rachis of dense cylindric pubescent panicled spikes, greenish, pungent odor. Calyx broadly companulate, lobes 5. Corolla tube short, lobes 5, pubescent outside, white. Stamens 5, inserted below the throat of corolla; filaments short. The ovary is 2-locular with a filiform style and a fusiform stigma. The fruit is an ellipsoid, loculicidal capsule, measuring 1.5 – 2 cm in length, standing erect, and appearing brown. Numerous seeds, approximately 6 mm long, are narrowly winged.

Flowering & Fruiting: September– July.

Distribution: India: Western Ghats – Konkan, Karnataka to Travancore, up to 1200 m. Endemic.

Uses: Inner bark astringent and used as a substitute for quinine.

Humboldtia brunonis Wallich (CAESALPINIACEAE)

Common name:
Kannada: Hasige mara.

Description: Shrubs or small trees. Leaves subsessile; rachis ca 5 cm long; leaflets 2 pairs, obovate – oblong, up to 22 x 8.5 cm, obliquely acute at base, abruptly acuminate at apex. Stipules ca 3 cm long with reniform, leafy basal appendages. Flowers in 8-15 cm long axillary racemes, subtended by a pair of persistent, coloured, gland-dotted bracteoles. Calyx lobes 4, bluntly ovate, pink, greyish hairy. The petals are three in number, spathulate, clawed, and exhibit a white hue tinged with pink. There are five stamens, alternating with five staminodes. The ovary is stipitate and hairy, with a capitate stigma. The pods are oblong, flat, oblique, measuring approximately 7 x 2.5 cm.

Flowering & Fruiting: November – June.

Distribution: India: In evergreen forests of Western Ghats. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic.

Homalium ceylanicum (Gardner) Bentham (ROSACEAE)

Common name
Kannada: Kala.

Description: The trees reach heights of up to 5 meters. The leaves are elliptic, acuminate, narrowed at the base, and crenate, measuring up to 9.5 x 4.5 cm. The flowers are white but emit an unpleasant odor. Sepals 4, ciliate along margin; Petals glabrous. Stamens 4, alternating with glandular staminodes. Ovary globose pubescent. Capsule 2-4 valved.

Flowering & Fruiting: March – April.
Distribution: India: Common in semi-evergreen forests.

Uses: Used as an ornamental.

Holarrhena pubescens (Buch – Ham) Wallich ex G. Don.
(APOCYNACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Kodasalu, Kutaja.
Tulu: Kutaja.
Malayalam: Kodaga pala.
Sanskrit: Kalinga, Pandura.
Tamil: Ve palei, Kodaga palei.
Telugu: Pala kodaga, Pala kodsa.

Description: Small trees, up to 10 m tall with brown, rough bark; white milky latex. Leaves opposite, broadly ovate or elliptic, 10-20 x 5-12 cm, rounded to obtuse at base, acuminate at apex, glabrous; main nerves 10-14 pairs; petiole ca 3 mm long, sometimes 0. Flowers in terminal long peduncled cymes, white, fragrant. Calyx lobes 5, white. Stamens 5, inserted at the base of the tube; filaments short. Disc 0. Ovary 2-locular; style short; stigma bifid. The fruit consists of dehiscing follicles, cylindric and measuring 20-40 cm in length, often adorned with white spots. Numerous seeds are present, linear-oblong, and topped with a deciduous coma of brown hairs.

Flowering & Fruiting: March – October.

Distribution: India: Common in all deciduous forests, up to 1000 m. Malacca.

Uses:

• Wood white, soft, even-grained, used for carving and turning in N. India, rarely in the south. Used for making small articles such as combs, picture-frames, carved boxes, toys, spoons, cups and platters, bobbins, bedstead legs, paper knives, walking-sticks, hookah stems, ploughs, beads etc. It is ideal for slate frames and suitable for pen holders, mathematical instruments, brush backs, and spools and pirns for silk textiles.
• Root used in haemorrhage; root and bark used in amoebic dysentery; bark astringent, anthelmintic, antidontalgic, stomachic, febrifuge, antidropsical, diuretic, used in piles, colic, dyspepsia, chest affections and diseases of the skin and spleen; latex used in eczema and other skin diseases; leaf used in chronic bronchitis, boils, ulcers; flower used in blood diseases; seed aphrodisiac, antibilious, used in flatulence, worm infections, promoting conception and toning up of vaginal tissues after delivery. Prominent Ayurvedic formulations include “Kutajghan Bati,” “Kutajarishta,” and “Kutajavleh.” Additionally, the plant is a key component in “Bismuth Kurchi,” a renowned remedy for amoebic dysentery.

Holigarna nigra Bourd. (ANACARDIACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Chere.
Tamil: Cherei.

Description: Trees, 10-15 m tall with black juice; branches glabrous. Leaves alternate, spathulate, up to 12x 6cm, base narrowed into 1-2 cm long petiole, obtuse or retuse at apex, glabrous, spars early deciduous. Flowers in up to 8 cm long, dark purple pubescencent panicles, white. Bisexual flowers bracteate, pedicillate. Calyx copular, 5-lobed. Petals 5, ovate, pubescent inside. Stamens 5. Disc 5 lobed. The ovary is inferior, tomentose, and 1-loculed, with three recurved styles. The fruit is a drupe, reaching up to 3 x 1.7 cm, glabrous, turning black and resinous when ripe. It contains a single seed.

Flowering & Fruiting: February – July.

Distribution: In evergreen forests of Western Ghats between 650 – 1300 m. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic. The black and caustic juice of the plant is used as varnish.

Holigarna grahamii (Wight) Kurz (ANACARDIACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Malechere.
Malayalam: Bipti, Balwali.

Description: Trees, up to 30 m tall; young branches tomentose. Leaves alternate, crowded at the ends of branchlets, oblanceolate, 23-35×8-23 cm, narrowed below the middle, cuneate at base, shortly acuminate at apex, rusty – pubescent beneath; petiole up to 4 cm long, with 1-2 pairs of spurs. Flowers in up to 35 cm long, rusty tomentose panicles, unisexual. Calyx 5-lobed. Petals 5. Male flowers 2 mm across, sessile, greenish white. Staments 5. Disc 5-lobed, cupular. Female flowers 8 mm across. Ovary inferior, 1-loculed; styles 3. The fruit is a drupe, obliquely ovoid, measuring 1.5-2 x 1-1.5 cm, partially enclosed by a rusty tomentose hypocarp. It contains a single seed.

Flowering & Fruiting: January – May.

Distribution: India: Moist deciduous to evergreen forests of Western Ghats. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic. A threatened species.

Holigarna ferruginea Marchand (ANACARDIACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Chere.
Tulu: Chere.
Tamil: Chaeri.
Malayalam: Haisikutti Cherai.

Description: Large trees, 30-33 m tall; branches glabrous. Leaves alternate, clustured at the ends of branchlets, obovate or oblaceolate, up to 22x 9 cm, cuneate at base, obtuse or acute at apex, glabrous, glaucous beneath; nerves 12-16 pairs; petiole up to 1.5 cm long with a pair of caducous spurs. Flowers in up to 18 cm long, dark brown pubescent panicles, polygamous. Calyx 5-lobed. Petals 5. Male flowers 4 mm across. Stamens 5, filaments filiform. Disc 5-lobed, copular. Bisexual flowers 6 mm in diam., white. Ovary inferior, 1-loculed; styles 3. The fruit is a drupe, ellipsoid, reaching up to 3.5 cm in length, fully enveloped in a rustically tomentose hypocarp. Upon ripening, it turns black and exhibits a resinous quality. The seed is singular.

Flowering: February – April.
Fruiting: June – July

Distribution: India: In semi-evergreen forests of Western Ghats. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic to South W. India.

Uses: Tender leaves are used in making chutney. Timber useful for construction and agricultural implements. The acrid juice from the stem and fruit-rind is used as a black varnish by the painters.

Holigarna beddomei Hook. f. (ANACARDIACEAE)

Common name
Tamil: Palvidinyan.

Description: Trees up to 25 m tall with black juice. Leaves alternate, ovate or oblanceolate, up to 35 x 12 cm, abruptly broad above the middle, cuneate at base, acuminate at apex, rusty tomentose beneath; petioles up to 4 cm long, tomentose, with slender spurs, caducous. Flowers both bisexual and male, in axillary and terminal panicles, 2 mm across, tomentose. Calyx copular, 5-lobed. Petals 5. Stamens 5. Disc 5-lobed, copular, with a tuft of hairs at the centre. Ovary inferior, 1-loculed, tomentose; styles 3. The fruit is a drupe, obliquely ovoid, measuring approximately 1.5 x 1 cm, partially enclosed within a tomentose hypocarp. It contains a solitary seed.

Flowering & Fruiting: January – June.

Distribution: India: In evergreen forests of Western Ghats, up to 1000 m. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic.

Holigarna arnottiana Hook. f. (ANACARDACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Holegara, Hulgeri, Kadugeru.
Tulu: Chere.
Malayalam: Cheru.
Tamil: Charei, Karun.

Description: Trees, 10-15 m tall with black caustic juice. Leaves alternate, obovate-oblanceolate, 10-23 x 3.5-8 cm, acute or rounded at apex, glabrous on both surfaces; amin nerves 16-20 pairs; petioles 1.5 – 2.5 cm long, spurs early caducous. Flowers in up to 20 cm long, rusty tomentose axillary and terminal panicles, polygamous, greenish. Calyx 5-lobed. Petals 5. Male flowers ca 3 mm across. Stamens 5; filaments subulate. Disc 5-lobed, copular. Bisexual flowers 4 mm in diam. Ovary inferior, 1-loculed, styles 3. The fruit is a drupe, obliquely ovoid or oblong, with dimensions of up to 1.8 x 0.8 cm, nearly entirely enveloped in the hypocarp. When ripe, it turns black and exhibits a resinous quality. The seed is solitary.

Flowering & Fruiting: January – June.

Distribution : India: In coastal areas and in forests of Western Ghats at lower altitudes. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic.

Uses: Wood light grey, soft, light, used for packing cases, cigar cases, boats, dugouts, bullock carts, matchboxes and splints and pencils. All parts of the tree yield a black, caustic, resinous juice which is used as a varnish and for water proofing boats and furniture. It is also used for fixing indelible black patterns on linen and cotton cloth. The black caustic juice which raises blisters can be used as varnish.