Category: Uses and benefits

Dysoxylum malabaricum Beddome ex Hiern (MELIACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Bili agilu.

Description: Trees, 30-40 m tall; bark grey with white warts. Leaves imparipinnate, 30-35 cm long; leaf rachis up to 35 cm long; leaflets 4-5 pairs, elliptic-oblong, 5-23 x 4-8 cm; secondary nerves 10-20 on each side. Flowers in 10-20 cm long axillary panicles, crowded near ends of branches, white, fragrant. Calyx deeply 4 – lobed; lobes more or less obtuse. Petals 4, linear-oblong, subacute, pubescent outside, imbricate. Staminal tube tubular or urceolate, more or less 4 -angled, with 8 deep emarginate crenatures; anthers 8, included. Disc cup-shaped, crenulate and ciliate on margin, pubescent inside. Ovary white-tomentose, 4-locular with 2 collateral ovules in each. The fruit is a pyriform capsule, measuring 5-6.5 cm across, displaying four longitudinal furrows and a bumpy surface, colored in a bright yellow hue. Inside, there are 3-4 seeds, each with a slightly three-angled shape; their reddish-brown testa covers them.

Flowering & Fruiting: February – June.

Distribution: India: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic.

Uses: Timber valuable. Wood is used to cure rheumatism; wood oil is used in treating ear and eye diseases.

Dysoxylum binectariferum (Roxb.) Hook. f. ex Beddome (MELIACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Kadu gandha.
Tamil: Agurivagil, Cambil.

Description: Evergreen trees up to 30 m tall; young parts and inflorescences minutely pubescent. Leaves pinnately compound, alternate, up to 75 cm long; leaflets 6-8, alternate or subopposite, elliptic-oblong up to 17 x 8 cm, acute at base, acuminate at apex, unequal sided entire or obscurely dentate along margins; petiolules ca 1 cm long. Flowers in 20-30 cm long panicles, pale white. Calyx copular, 4-lobed. Petals 4, velvety. Staminal tube mealy, 4-angled, terminating in 8 obscurely 2-fid teeth; anthers 8, included. Disc tubular, 8 toothed. The ovary has four compartments and is covered in fine hairs; the style is four-angled, leading to a capitate stigma. The fruit is a capsule, obovoid in shape, reaching lengths of up to 3 cm. Initially pale-yellow, it changes to an orange hue. Within are four shining seeds, purple in color, featuring a large yellow hilum.

Flowering & Fruiting: July – December.

Distribution: India: Sikkim, Arunachala Pradesh, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Meharashtra, Goa, Daman & Diu, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Sri Lanka.

Uses: Heart wood oil used in dyspnoea, diseases of head, ear and eye, leprosy and wounds; gum is used in coryza, headache, fever, skin diseases and vomiting.

Dimocarpus longan Lour. Nephelium longana (Lam.) Camb. (SAPINDACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Kendala, Kanakindeli.
Malayalam: Psakotta.
Tamil: Kattapuvan, Puvatti, Sakattai.

Description: The trees can grow up to 12 meters in height. Their leaves are arranged alternately in a paripinnate pattern, reaching lengths of up to 45 cm. The leaflets are elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, measuring up to 20 by 8 cm, with an oblique base and an apex that is either acute or acuminate. Flowers unisexual, in clusters on the branches of terminal or axillary, pubescent panicles, white. Calyx 5-6-lobed. Petals 5-6, linear-spathulate. Disc pubescent. Stamens 6-10. Fruit a schizocarp, globose, ca 1.5 cm across, tubercled, red, supported by the persistent calyx. Seed solitary, globose, black, enclosed by pulpy aril.

Flowering & Fruiting : February – September.

Distribution: India: In evergreen forests, up to 1800 m. Punjab, Uttar Pradesh,Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Sri Lanka,Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines and Papua New Guinea.

Uses: The pulpy aril is edible. Fruit stomachic, anthelmintic; aril used as tonic and febrifuge.

Dipterocarpus indicus Beddome (DIPTEROCARPACEAE)

Common names:
Kannada: Banasampa, Challenne, Dhuma, Guga, Kallenne, Yenne.
Tamil: Ennei mara.
Malayalam: Kal payin, Velayini.

Description: Evergreen trees, ca 40 m tall. Leaves alternate, ovate or elliptic, ca 18 x 8 cm, entire, rounded at base, acute at apex. Stipules large, softly tomentose, covering terminal bud, caducous. Flowers in 3-8-flowered racemes, white, fragrant. Calyx tube large with 5 unequal lobes. Petals 5, puberulous on the outside. The fruit is a non-splitting nut, round in shape, ranging from 1.5 to 2.5 cm in diameter, ensconced within a growing calyx tube that has wings. These wings, measuring 7.5 to 14 cm in length and 3.5 cm in width, are upright and oblong, displaying a red hue.

Flowering: December – March
Fruiting: April – July

Distribution: India: In evergreen and semi-evergreen forests at low levels. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic to South W. India. A threatened species.

Uses:

• The reddish-brown wood, known for its hardness, finds extensive use in house construction, particularly for interior work. It is commonly employed in shipbuilding, making railway carriages, boat mast construction, and is also a valued resource within the plywood industry. It is suitable for use as railway sleepers after preservative treatment. The residual resin after the separation of the volatile oil from the oleo-resin can be employed in the preparation of spirit and oil varnishes.
• Garjan balsam obtained from trunk of tree is used as stimulant to genitourinary system and as diuretic, for treating gonorrhea, gleet, urinary infections, indolent ulcers, ringworm and cutaneous affections. The oleo-resin is also applied for treating rheumatic complaints.

Dichapetalum gelonioides (Roxb.) Engl. subsp. gelonioides Leenh. (DICHAPETALACEAE)

Description: Small trees or shrubs, up to 12 m tall; branchlets pubescent. Leaves elliptic, 5-12 x 2-4.5 cm, acute at base, long- acuminate or caudate at apex, glabrous. Inflorescence of 7-10 flowers in axillary clusters. Sepals 5, unequal, ovate-elliptic, obtuse connate at base. Petals 5, oblong, deeply notched at apex. Disc 5-lobed. Stamens 5. Ovary 2-3 locular, downy tomentose. The fruit is a drupe, transversely oblong or obcordate, often divided into one or two lobes, densely covered in greyish-yellow tomentum, exhibiting a scarlet, fleshy mesocarp. Typically, there are two seeds within.

Flowering : March – June.
Fruiting : August – December.

Distribution: India: In wet evergreen forests of North eastern hill states and Western Ghats, up to 1500 m. Assam, Meghalaya, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Myanmar, China, Thailand, Malesia and Sri Lanka.

Diospyros pruriens Dalz. (EBENACEAE)

Description: The trees can reach heights of up to 12 meters. Young parts of the trees are covered in fine hair (hirsute). The leaves are arranged alternately and are oblong-lanceolate, measuring up to 15 by 6.5 cm, with a subcordate base and an acuminate apex. Both the margins and midrib of the leaves are covered in fine hair, while the petiole is densely hairy. Flowers unisexual. Male flowers in 3-flowered axillary cymes, yellow. Calyx deeply 4-lobed, hairy. Corolla lobes 4, oblong, silky hairy without. Stamens 13-14, connate at base. Pistilode hairy. Female flowers solitary, axillary. Calyx deeply 4-lobed. Corolla lobes 4, ovate-oblong, silky hairy without. Staminodes 4. Ovary 4-celled, hairy; ovule 1 in each cell. Fruit a berry, ovoid, up to 2 cm long, bristly hairy; fruiting calyx linear.

Flowering & Fruiting: February – May

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

Diospyros malabarica (Desr.) Kostel. (EBENACEAE)

Common names
Sanskrit: Anilsra.
Kannada: Hole thumiri.
Tulu: Bandada mara.
Tamil: Tumbika, Kattatti.
Malayalam: Panachi, Vanaji.
Telugu: Elosu.

Description: The trees can grow up to 12 meters in height, characterized by wide-spreading branches, with smooth, dark grey bark. Leaves alternate, oblong-lanceolate, up to 19 x 6.5 cm, acute at base, obtuse or acute at apex, coriaceous. Flowers in 1 – many- flowered cymes, 4 – merous, greenish. Calyx lobes in male flowers broadly triangular, pubescent; in female slightly cordate. Corolla retuse, yellow. Stamens usually 40, in pairs; anthers hairy. Pistillode rudimentary. Ovary 8 – celled. Fruit a berry, globose, ca 4 cm across, yellow when mature; fruiting calyx large, reflexed; pulp viscid, turning black when exposed. Seeds 4-8, smooth.

Flowering & Fruiting: February-November.

Distribution: India: Almost throughout. Common along river banks. Sri Lanka.

Uses:

• Fully ripe fruits possess an overly sweet taste and are suitable for consumption. The wood, which is greyish in color, features a close grain, moderate hardness, and weight, and is occasionally used in building construction and boat making.The wood yields charcoal. Pulped fruit is used as a preservative for fishing nets and as a glue for book binding; boiled with or without powdered charcoal, it is used for paving bottoms of boats. Unripe fruits are employed for dyeing cloth and tanning hides.
• Bark used in dysentery and as febrifuge; unripe fruit used in ulcer; ripe fruit anticalculaus, used in diseases of blood; flower and fruit aphrodisiac, tonic, used in hiccup of children and lumbago; fruit and bark antidysenteric; ripe fruit and wood antibilious; infusion of fruit used as a gargle in aphthae and sore throat; seed and bark astringent; seed oil used in dysentery and diarrhoea. The bark, fruit, seed and seed oil are used for treating boils, leucorrhoea, haemorrhage, polyuria, leprosy, urticuria, intermittent fever and snakebite poisoning.