Category: Uses and benefits

Trewia polycarpa  Benth.  (EUPHORBIACEAE)

Common names
Malayalam: Pambara kumbil.
Tamil: Ana-thuvarai.

Description: Trees up to 15 m tall. Leaves subopposite, broadly ovate, up to 20 cm long and often as broad as long, truncate or cordate at base, acuminate at apex; petioles up to 7.5 cm long. Flowers appearing before the leaves. Male flowers in short racemes; female in many-flowered, up to 7.5 cm long racemes. The ovary has 2 cells, and the styles are long, covered with papillae. The drupes have a thin, loculicidally dehiscing pericarp, are globosely ovoid, approximately 1.3 cm in diameter, and densely tomentose. The seeds are rounded at both ends.

Flowering & Fruiting : March – July.

Distribution: India: Western Ghats and West Coast in wet places and along streams. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic.

Uses: Wood soft, used for drums and for the carving images.

Trichilia connaroides (Wight & Arn.) Benth (MELIACEAE)

Common name
Kannada: Kora.

Description: Trees up to 20 m tall. Leaves 5-9 foliolate; leaf rachis up to 30 cm; leaflets ovate, elliptic, acuminate, submembranous, pale beneath 8-14 x 3.5 – 7 cm. The panicle is either equal to or longer than the leaf. Sepals are pubescent on the outside. The white petals are 0.45 cm long. The ovary is 2-locular, and the glabrous capsule is globose, measuring 1.1 cm in length with a pink tint.

Flowering & Fruiting : Through out the year.

Distribution: India: Western Ghats, in moist deciduous to semi evergreen forests.

Tectona grandis  L. f. (VERBENACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Saguvani, Tega.
Malayalam: Tekka.
Tamil: Kalindi, Sagan, Takku.
Telugu: Pedda teku.
English: Teak tree.

Description: Large deciduous trees, up to 30 m tall with light brown or grey bark; branchlets quadrangular, channeled, stellately tomentose. Leaves opposite, elliptic or obovate, 30-60 x 15-30 cm, truncate or shortly narrowed at base, acute or acuminate at apex, coriaceous, the upper surface rough, glabrous, the lower clothed with dense stellate grey or tawny, tomentune; main nerves 8-10 pairs; petioles ca 6 cm long. Flowers in 30-90 cm long terminal branched tomentose cymose panicles, white, fragrant. Calyx semiglobose-campanulate, stellately tomentose, lobes 5 or 6. Corolla small, lobes 5 or 6, white. Stamens 5 or 6, inserted near the base of the corolla, exserted. The ovary has four locules, and the style is linear, with a shortly bifid stigma. The fruit is a subglobose drupe, approximately 1.5 cm in diameter, enclosed within the enlarged calyx. The seeds are erect and oblong.

Flowering & Fruiting: June – September.

Distribution: India: Peninsular regions, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, southern Uttara Pradesh, Gujarath, N. Circars, forests on both sides of the Godavari; Deccan and Carnatic in Hill forests in all forest districts; Wynaad, Anamalais and in dry forests at lower elevations of Travancore and Cochin in Western Ghats. Malaya, Sumatra, Java.

Uses:

• The wood possesses a dark brown or grey hue, and its hardness contributes to its significant value, making it highly sought after.The timber is one of the most important hard wood in the world is used for ship building, heavy constructions like bridge-building, piles in harbours, railway and other coach building, furniture and cabinet making, flooring, joinery and general carpentry, agricultural implements, making sound boards for musical instruments. The waste wood is used as fuel.
• The wood yields good charcoal. Tannin is extracted from leaves and is used for dyeing silk yellow. Root used in anuria and retention of urine; flower and seed diuretic; wood anthelmintic, expectorant, anticephalgic, antibilious, used in burning and pain over region of liver, inflammatory swellings; ash of wood used in inflammations of the eye lids, internally in dyspepsia; bark astringent, used in bronchitis; nut oil promotes hair growth, used in scabies.

TeTerminalia bellirica (Gaertner) Roxb.  (COMBRETACEAE)

Common names
Kannada & Tulu: Shanthi.
Hindi: Bahera.
Tamil: Akkam, Kalanduri, Thani.
Telugu: Bhutavasamu tadim, Tandra, Vibhitakamu.

Description: Deciduous trees, up to 15 m tall; bark bluish-grey with vertical cracks. Leaves clustered at the ends of the branchlets, alternate, broadly elliptic to elliptic-obovate, up to 20 x 14 cm, cuneate at base, subacute or shortly acuminate, rarely obtuse at apex, coraicious; main nerves 6-8 pairs; petiole 3-10 cm long. Flowers in simple spikes, creamy white. Calyx 5-lobed, pubescent without, villous within. Petals 0. Stamens 10 in 2 series, the 5 upper alternate with the calyx lobes, the 5 lower opposite them; filaments subulate exserted; anther small. Disc 5-lobed, villous. The ovary is inferior and 1-celled, with a subulate style. The fruit is an indehiscent capsule, ovoid, measuring up to 3 x 2.5 cm. It exhibits slight 5-ridges and is covered in brown pubescence. Inside, there is a solitary seed.

Flowering & Fruiting: February – August.

Distribution: India: Almost throughout except the desert regions of the west. Common in deciduous to semi-evergreen forests of Western Ghats up to 1000 m. Indomalaya.

Uses:

• The oil extracted from the kernels finds application in soap manufacturing. Although the wood is yellowish-grey, it lacks durability and is sparingly employed; however, it can be useful if meticulously seasoned. Used for petty construction, dugouts, side planks of boats, grain measures, ploughs, turnery, coopers work etc. The wood is used for fuel and for making charcoal. The fruit is used for dyeing. The fruit is the ‘Belliric myrabolam’ used in tanning.
• Bark mild diuretic, used in anaemia, leucoderma, used as an astringent for dressing wounds and sore throat; gum demulcent and purgative; fruit astringent, antidropsical, antileprotic, antiinflammatory, antidiarrhoeal, antibilious, stomachic, antiasthmatic, tonic, anticephalagic, bechic, anthelmintic, attenuant, used in bronchitis, strangury, sore throat, diseases of eye, nose and heart and bladder, piles; semi-ripe fruit purgative; oil from seed applied in rheumatic swellings. Fruits are an important constituent of the famous “Triphala” drug of Ayurveda.

Terminalia paniculata Roth  (COMBRETACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Mathi.
Tulu: Maruva.
Malayalam: Marutu, Pe marutu, Vem marutu.
Tamil: Pei kadukai, Marudu.
Telugu: Nimiri, Pulamaddi, Putamanu.

Description: Deciduous trees, 10-12 m tall with dark brown cracked bark; young parts softly pubescent. Leaves subopposite or upper ones alternate, elliptic or elliptic-oblong, up to 20 x 9 cm, rounded or cordate at base, acute or acuminate at apex, with sessile glands at base beneath. Flowers in slender spikes forming compound panicles, bisexual, white. Calyx 5-lobed, hairy within. Petals 0. Stamens 10 in 2 series; filaments exserted. Disc 5-lobed, villous. The ovary is situated inferiorly, is 1-celled, and covered in dense hairs. The fruit is a winged capsule, reaching dimensions of up to 2 x 1 cm. It is unequally 3-winged, with the middle wing larger than the lateral ones, displaying a brownish-red coloration.

Flowering : November – December.
Fruiting : February – March.

Distribution: South W. India. Fairly common in deciduous forests and occasional in semi-evergreen forests of Western Ghats and interior Karnataka; in the deciduous forests of Cuddapah and Bellary, up to 600 m.

Uses: Wood pale brown, smooth, very hard, a useful building wood, used in buildings for doors, windows, planks and rafters. Also used for furniture, cabinet making, ship building, dugouts, boats, carts, agricultural implements, mine props, poles and ply wood. The wood is used as fuel. The bark and fruits are used for dyeing. Bark and fruit contain tannin and are used for tanning. Branches are lopped for green manure. Bark diuretic, cardiotonic, used in parotitis; flower anticholerin and used in opium poisoning.

Terminalia chebula Retz. (COMBRETACEAE)

Common names
Kannada & Tulu: Alale, Anile.
Malayalam: Divya, Katukka.
Tamil: Amagola, Kadukkai.
Telugu: Karakkai.
English: Black Myrobalan, Chebulic Myrobalan.

Description: Deciduous trees; up to 25 m tall with dark brown rough bark. Leaves alternate or sub-opposite, ovate or elliptic-oblong, up to 18 x 9.5 cm, rounded or cordate at base, obtuse or acute at apex, clothed with silky hairs when young, petioles up to 2.5 cm long with a pair of large glands at the top. Flowers in 4.0 – 8 cm long terminal spikes, pale yellow. Calyx companulate, hairy within, lobes 5. Corolla 0. Disc densely villous. There are 10 stamens arranged in two series. The ovary is 1-locular. The fruit is a hanging drupe, obovoid or ellipsoidal, approximately 4 x 2.5 cm in size. It is smooth, shiny, and turns yellowish when ripe. Inside, there is a solitary hard seed.

Flowering & Fruiting : January – October.

Distribution: India: Throughout. Common in deciduous forests of Deccan, W. Coast and Western Ghats. Sri Lanka, Myanmar.

Uses:

• The wood is characterized by a brownish-grey hue and exceptional hardness. Although the timber holds limited commercial value, it is primarily utilized in construction, as well as for crafting posts and beams. Additionally, it finds occasional use in the making of carts and dugouts. It is suitable for the manufacture of tool handles. The dried fruits (“Myrobalan”, “Chebulic Myrobalan”) constitute one of the most important vegetable tanning materials and have been used in India for a long time. The dried flesh surrounding the seed is rich in tannin. Myrobalan is useful especially in the production of sole-leather. It is also used for book-binding leathers.
• Bark diuretic, cardiotonic; fruit astringent, purgative, tonic, carminative, alterative, stomachic, used in asthma, dysentery, paralysis, piles, cold, ophthalmia, sore throat, dental caries, bleeding and ulceration of gums, scalds, burns, diseases of spleen, strengthens brain and enriches blood. Fruit along with those of Phyllanthus emblica L. and Terminalia bellirica (Gaertner) Roxb. are constituents of “Triphala” which is prescribed for stomach disorders and as an astringent.