Category: M

Mesua ferrea L. (GUTTIFERAE)

Common names
Kannada: Nagasampige, Nagakesara.
Malayalam: Nanga, Peri.
Sanskrit: Bhujangakhya, Kanchana, Kesara.
English: Indian Rose chestnut.

Description: Evergreen trees, up to 30 m tall; often buttressed at base; bark smooth, ash-colored, grey, turning dark brown, exfoliating in large, white flakes. Leaves opposite, decussate, very variable, linear –lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, lanceolate or elliptic-oblong, 6-15 x 2-4 cm, obtuse or acute at base, acute, acuminate or cuspidate at apex, shiny; new leaves crimson red turning pink and ultimately becoming dark green; lateral nerves very fine, nearly parallel; petioles slender, 5-12 mm long. Flowers axillary and terminal, usually solitary, bisexual, white, showy, sweet-scented. Sepals 4 in 2 pairs, imbricate, fleshy, persistent. Petals white with brown or purple veins, obovate or obcordate, cuneate. Stamens numerous, forming a globose, yellow mass. Ovary bilocular, ovules 2 in each locule. The fruit is ovoid to globose, featuring a conical point, measuring 2.5-3.5 x 3-4 cm. It is supported by adpressed and accrescent sepals. There are 1-4 seeds, each about 2.5 mm long, with a smooth texture and a shiny, dark brown testa.

Flowering : January – March.
Fruiting : May – October.

Distribution: Almost throughout India, including Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Nepal, Bangladesh, SriLanka, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam Cambodia, Thailandand Malacca.

Uses:

• Refined seed oil is suitable for soap making. Wood dark red or deep reddish brown, hard, strong, heavy, used for railway sleepers, bridges, posts, beams, construction work, electric poles, boat building, well construction, agricultural implements, crushers, bearings, tool handles, golf club heads, walking sticks, musical instruments and cabinet work. A good fuel wood. The reddish brown volatile oil from flower is used for perfuming soaps. The tree is lopped for fodder.
• Planted as avenue tree. Bark tonic after child birth, used in anaemia; bark and flower bechic; bark and unripe fruit sudorific; bark, unripe fruit and flower astringent; leaf and flower antidote for snakebite and scorpion sting; flower-bud used in dysentery; flower stomachic, expectorant, used in piles, burning of feet; seed oil used in skin diseases and rheumatism. In Ayurveda anthers are used in diseases of head, throat, urinary bladder disorders, poisoning, nausea, vomiting, leprosy, erysipelas, thirst and piles.It is an ingredient of “Nagakeshara-adichurna” used for bacillary dysentery and of “Nagakeshara yoga” used for piles.

Memecylon malabaricum (C. B. Clarke.) Cogn. (MELASTOMATACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Dodda nekkare.
Tulu: Olle kodi.
Tamil: Malamthetti, Perungaca.

Description: The trees can reach heights of up to 15 meters. The leaves are arranged oppositely, ovate-oblong, with dimensions of up to 10 x 5 cm. They are semi-amplexicaul or subcordate at the base and acute or subobtuse at the apex. The flowers are in subsessile clusters and have a purplish-blue hue. Calyx campanulate above the ovary. Corolla lobes 4, suborbicular. Stamens 8; anthers opening by slits; connective ending in a spur. Ovary 1-celled. Berries spherical, up to 6 mm across, crowned by the calyx limbs, blackish. Seed solitary.

Flowering & Fruiting: December – July.

Distribution: India: In moist deciduous and evergreen forests of Western Ghats. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Endemic.

Uses: A good fuel wood. Decoction of flowers and twigs are used in skin troubles. The extract of young leaves is given in indigestion and stomach-ache. The ground paste of leaves applied to herpes wounds.

Memecylon talbotianum Brandis (MELASTOMATACEAE)

Common names
Tulu: Alimar.
Tamil: Kancan.

Description: A large shrub or a small tree. Leaves opposite, elliptic or ovate, up to 10 x 5 cm, acute at both ends, margins slightly revolute, yellowish when dry. The flowers are arranged in lateral fascicles and are deep blue. The calyx is campanulate, and the corolla has four triangular-ovate lobes. There are 8 stamens. The berries are globose, reaching up to 8 mm in diameter, often wrinkled, and turn yellow when ripe. Each berry contains a solitary seed.

Flowering : November – February
Fruiting : March – August.

Distribution: India: Western Ghats/West Coast in moist deciduous to evergreen forests. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Sri Lanka, Malaya.

Meiogyne pannosa (Dalz.) Sinclair. (ANNONACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Kudubondo

Description: Trees, 5-9 m tall; young parts puberulous. Leaves lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate; up to 16 x 4 cm, rounded or acute at base, acuminate at apex, pellucid-punctate; pubescent on nerves beneath. Flowers axillary or extra-axillary, often on old wood, solitary, straw-coloured. Sepals 3, ovate, acute, pubescent outside. Petals 6 in 2 series, oblong – lanceolate, densely brown, velvety tomentose, inner petals shorter and narrower. There are numerous stamens with thick, truncate anther connectives. The carpels range from 10 to 12 and are oblong, with a capitate stigma. The fruitlets are ovoid, measuring 1-2.5 cm in length, and are covered in tomentose. Shiny seeds are present, numbering from 1 to 3.

Flowering: January – May.
Fruiting: October – December

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

Melastoma malabathricum L. (MELASTOMATACEAE)

Common names
Kannada & Tulu: Nekkare.
Malayalam: Kadali, Kalampatti.
Tamil: Kadalai, Nakkukaruppan.
Telugu: Pattudu.

Description: Shrubs, 1-2 m tall; stem and branches clothed with scales. Leaves opposite, elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate or ovate-oblong, 5-12 x 1.5 – 4 cm, rounded at base, acute at apex, strigose above, appressedly-hairy, scaly on nerves beneath; nerves 3-7; petioles 1-1.5 cm long, scaly, hairy. Flowers in terminal corymbose 1-5-flowered panicles, purplish; peduncle ca 1.3 cm long, densely scaly; pedicels ca 1.2 cm long, scaly. Calyx campanulate, densely clothed with silvery scales; lobes 5, lanceolate, scaly without, glabrous within. Corolla lobes 5, large, pink or purple. There are 10 stamens with unequal yellow filaments, and the anthers alternate between yellow and red. The ovary is semi-inferior and 5-locular, with a style approximately 1.8 cm long and an obtuse stigma. The fruit is an irregularly dehiscing, berry-like capsule that is ovoid, measuring 1-1.5 cm across, and turns yellowish-green when ripe. Numerous minute, curved seeds are present.

Flowering & Fruiting: Throughout the year.

Distribution: India: Throughout. Common under light cover, in evergreen and moist deciduous forests, up to 2000 m.

Uses: The leaves, flowers and fruits are eaten. Suitable for growing in gardens. Bark wound healer; leaf antiseptic, used in diarrhoea, used for local application in smallpox to prevent pox-marks; leaf and flowering top astringent and antileucorrhoeic.

Melia dubia Cav. (MELIACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Hebbevu, Betta bevu.
Tulu: Thurka bevu.
Malayalam: Malavembu.
Sanskrit: Arangaka.
Tamil: Malai vembu.
Telugu: Munnati karaka.
English: Great neem.

Description: Trees up to 25 m tall with whitish grey bark; young parts scurfy-tomentose. Leaves alternate, bi- or occasionally tri-pinnate, up to 1 m long; pinnae 3-8 pairs; leaflets 3-13, ovate-lanceolate to ovate round, up to 12 x 4 cm, rounded and oblique at base, acuminate at apex, serrulate or entire along margins; petiolulesca 5 mm long. Flowers in 12-20 cm long, panicles, greenish white, fragrant. Calyx 5 lobed, tomentose. Petals 5, linear-spathulate, concave pubescent outside, puberulous inside. Staminal tube white, slightly expanded at apex with 10, 2-fid appendages; anthers 10, exserted, pubescent. The ovary is glabrous and 5-locular, with a style slightly longer than the staminal tube, and a cylindrical, 5-toothed stigma. The drupes are ovoid or ellipsoid, reaching up to 4 x 2.5 cm, pulpy, and turn yellowish when ripe. The seeds are oblong and compressed, ranging from 1 to 6 in number.

Flowering & Fruiting: March – February.

Distribution: India: Sikkim, Himalayas, Assam Khasi hills, North Bengal, Orissa, N. Circars, Deccan and Western Ghats at 1500 – 1800 m. Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Uses: Wood is used for packing cases, cigar boxes, ceiling planks, building purposes, agricultural implements, pencils, match boxes, splints and kattumarans. It is suitable for musical instruments, tea boxes and plywoods. It is a good fuel wood. Fruit anthelmintic, used in colic, one of the ingredients in preparation used in skin troubles.

Mallotus stenanthus Muell. – Arg. (EUPHORBIACEAE)

Common name
Tamil: Karuvalichchi.

Description: Monoecious shrubs or small trees up to 8 m tall; branchlets compressed, yellow-glandulous. Leaves opposite, elliptic-ovate to lanceolate, up to 14 x 4.5 cm, narrowly rounded at base, acute or acuminate at apex, yellow- glandular beneath; peliole up to 1 cm long. Flowers in slender axillary and terminal racemes; male and female in separate axils. The male flowers exhibit a yellowish hue, with 4 perianth lobes that are stellately pubescent on the exterior. Numerous stamens are present. The capsules, measuring about 1 cm across, are densely yellow-glandular with a few scattered spines, and they are 3-lobed. The seeds are globose.

Flowering & Fruiting: January – July.

Distribution: India: In the undergrowth in semi-evergreen and evergreen forests of Western Peninsular India. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic.

Maytenus rothiana (Walp.) Labreau – Callen (CELASTRCEAE)

Description: Shrubs or small trees 6-8 m tall, sometimes armed. Leaves alternate, ovate or ovate-elliptic or obovate, up to 16 x 9 cm, cuneate at base, obtuse or acuminate at apex, margins crenulate. Flowers in short peduncled or subsessile cymes or fascicled on tubercles of branches, greenish white. Calyx 5-lobed. Petals 5. There are 5 stamens, and the disc is sinuate-lobed. The ovary is partly immersed in the disc. The fruit is a capsule, obovoid, 3-lobed, approximately 1.2 cm long, and has 3 locules. There are 6 seeds that are ellipsoid, with an aril near the base.

Flowering & Fruiting: April – September.

Distribution: India: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. In the Western Ghats in moist forests.

Mallotus philippensis (Lam.) Muell. – Arg. (EUPHORBIACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Kumkumada mara.
Malayalam: Manjana.
Sanskrit: Kampillake.
Tamil: Kamala, Kapli.
Telugu: Kumkuma.

Description: Small, dioecious trees up to 9 m tall; branchlets rusty-tomentose. Leaves alternate, crowded near the tip, ovate, ovate-lanceolate or ovate-elliptic, up to 25 x 9 cm, rounded at base, acute or shortly acuminate at apex, glaucous and red-glandular beneath, 3-ribbed at base; petioles up to 6 cm long. Male flowers in axillary or terminal clustered spikes, pale yellow. Perianth lobes 4. Stamens numerous, free. Female flowers are arranged in short spikes, featuring a perianth with 3 or 4 parts. The ovary is red-glandular and 3-celled, with three styles. The capsules are globose, measuring about 7 mm across, densely adorned with crimson glandular pubescence, and have 3 valves. The seeds are subglobose and blackish.

Flowering : June – September.
Fruiting : January.

Distribution: India: Throughout tropical Indian. Sri Lanka, Malaya Islands, China and Australia.

Uses:

• The wood is appropriate for use in rafters, tool handles, matchboxes, and small turned articles such as bobbins, cotton reels, penholders, and rulers. Additionally, it serves as a reliable source of fuel. The red powder (‘Kamala’) on the capsules furnishes valuable bright orange dye which is employed in dyeing silk and wool a bright flame-colour. It has also been used for colouring food stuffs and beverages, and as ‘Sindhur’ or ‘Kumkum’ by women. Leaves are used as fodder. Oil-cake can be used as manure. Kamal seed oil obtained by extraction with petroleum ether forms a good substitute for tung oil in the formulation of rapid drying paints and varnishes.
• The oil may also be employed in the formulation of hair fixis and ointments. Glandular hairs of the fruits yield the “Kamala powder” used in abdominal disorders, worm infection particularly for tapeworm, tympanites, constipation, polyuria, poisoning, disorders of kapha, wounds, urinary calculi, as purgative, styptic and in scabies, ringworm and herpes. The Ayurvedic preparations using this plant are “Krimighatini bati” and “Krimikuthar rasa” used as anthelmintic.

Maesa indica (Roxb.) DC. (MYRSINACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Mandase, Tanipela.
Sanskrit: Vayu vidanga.
Malayalam: Kiriti.

Description: Much branched shrubs or small trees; the stem usually covered with numerous small lenticels. Leaves alternate, elliptic ovate, ovate-oblong or elliptic lanceolate, up to 15 x 9 cm, rounded or subacute at base, acute or shorly acuminate at apex, serrate-dentate, shining above; petioles up to 2.5 cm long. Flowers small, in axillary 3-8 cm long racemes or panicles, white, faintly fragrant. Calyx tube adnate to the ovary, lobes 5. Petals 5 marked with coloured lines Stamens 5; filaments short, inserted on corolla tube. Ovary semi-inferior,1-locular; stigmas 3. The fruit is a globose berry, approximately 5 mm in diameter, with a creamy-white hue. It is covered nearly to the apex by the persistent calyx and is capped with a short style. The seeds are numerous and black.

Flowering & Fruiting: Almost throughout the year.

Distribution: India: Throughout. In deciduous and semi-evergreen forests. Malaya, Africa.

Uses: The leaves are said to be used in curries in Uttara Kannada. Wood soft, used for house posts. The wood is used as fuel. The fruits are used to poison fish. Root antisyphilitic; fruit anthelmintic