Category: Uses and benefits

Strychnos nuxvomica L. (LOGANIACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Hemmushti, Kasaraka.
Tulu: Kayar.
Malayalam: Kanjiram.
Sanskrit: Dirghapatra, Vishamushti.
Tamil: Etti, Kanjirai.
Telugu: Mushti, Mushidi.

Description: Large deciduous trees, up to 30 m tall with short sharp axillary spines; bark thin, grey, smooth or rough with lenticels. Leaves broadly elliptic or orbicular, 7-15 x 4-8 cm, attenuate at base, obtuse or acute at apex, glabrous and shining; basal nerves 3-5; nerves distinctly looped along the margins; petioles 0.6 – 1.3 cm long. Flowers numerous in 2-5 cm long terminal pedunculate pubescent compound cymes, greenish white, scent of fenugreek. Calyx pubescent outside, lobes 5. Corolla-tube cylindric, lobes 5, hairy inside below. Stamens 5; filaments short. Ovary ovoid, 2-locular; style glabrous; stigma capitate. The fruit is a globose berry, approximately 5 cm in diameter, with a smooth texture and an orange-red color. It contains 3-4 seeds that are flat, discoid, around 1.8 cm in diameter, highly compressed, and grey in appearance.

Flowering & Fruiting : March – June.

Distribution: India: Almost throughout. Western Ghats, W. Coast, Deccan in deciduous forests, up to 1300 m. Sri Lanka.

Uses:

• The wood is initially white, transitioning to a yellowish-grey shade, and is characterized by its hardness and close grain, making it suitable for various applications. Nuxvomica is employed as an insecticide to eradicate vermin in fields. Root febrifuge, anticholerin; stem-bark and wood anticholerin, used in epilepsy, dysentery, fever and dyspepsia; leaf applied as a poultice on wounds and ulcers; fruit diuretic emmenagogue, appetizer, tonic, antiparalytic, astringent, antirheumatic, used in fever, jaundice, leucoderma, diseases of blood, piles, ulcers, anaemia, lumbago, ringworm; seed tonic, stimulant, febrifuge, emetic, used in nervous disorders, colic and forms a constituent of medical preparations for the scalp.
• It is used in “Samirgaja Kesari” prescribed in the diseases of nervous system, in ‘Shul Heran Yoga’ prescribed for diarrhoea and in ‘Vishva-tapa Haran Ras’ given for fevers. The seeds are deadly poisonous but are not used as such. In indigenous systems, for internal use, the seeds repeatedly boiled in cow’s urine or milk, the seed-coat and embryo are removed and the dry powdered kernel is incorporated in the medicine.

Sterculia urens Roxb. (STERCULIACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Bhutali, Kempudale.
Malayalam: Thondi.
Tamil: Kavalam, Senthanaku, Vellaippulali.
Telugu: Tabsu.

Description: The trees can reach heights of up to 15 meters, with young parts exhibiting varying degrees of pubescence. The bark is white, smooth, with an outer layer that peels off in papery sheets, revealing an inner fibrous texture. Leaves alternate, crowded at the ends of the branchlets, digitately 3-5 lobes, up to 20 x 20 cm, cordate at base, caudate-acuminate at apex, grey beneath; petioles up to 9.5 cm long. Flowers small, male and female mixed in much branched, glandular-pubescent terminal panicles, appearing before the leaves at the ends of branchlets, yellow. Calyx companulate, 5-lobed, glandular hairy lobes inside at base. Petals absent. Male flowers: anthers 10-15 at the top of staminal column. Female flowers: ovaries on gynophores with sterile anthers at base; styles curved; stigmas 5-lobed. Follicles 5, oblong or ovoid-oblong, up to 4 x 1.5 cm, red when young, densely pubescent, often mixed with stinging hairs. Seeds 3-6 in each follicle, oblong, ca 7 x 5 mm, black, glossy.

Flowering : October – March.
Fruiting : February – April.

Distribution: India: Almost throughout except Himalayas. Sri Lanka and Malesia.

Uses: Seeds are roasted and eaten. Gum called “Katila” is substitute for tragacanth, used in throat affections; Leaf and tender branches are used in pleuropneumonia in cattle.

Sterculia guttata Roxb. ex DC. (STERCULIACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Jenu kathala, Hulitaradu mara.
Malayalam: Kithondi, Kavalam.
Tamil: Kavali, Thondi.

Description: Trees, up to 20 m tall; bark much cracked, ash coloured, inner fibrous, rough with warts outside; young shoots clothed with stellate-tomentum. Leaves alternate, ovate-oblong, ovate-elliptic or obovate, up to 25 x 15 cm, subcordate, rounded or subtruncate at base, acute or abruptly shortly acuminate at apex, rusty stellate-pubescent beneath; petioles up to 5 cm long. Flowers in up to 15 cm long rusty tomentose panicles, brownish yellow. Calyx 5-lobed, densely pubescent outside, clothed with stellate hairs within. Corolla absent. Male flowers: anthers 10-15, Female flowers: Ovaries on gynophore, hairy with sterile anthers at base, style on staminal column curved; stigmas 5-lobed. The follicles, numbering 2-5, are obovoid and reach dimensions of up to 12 x 5 cm. They are compressed, obscurely ribbed, and covered in brown tomentum, displaying a pink interior and a red exterior. Each follicle contains 3-4 seeds, oblong in shape, measuring up to 15 x 7 mm, and adorned with stiff, ferruginous hairs, appearing black.

Flowering : September – May.
Fruiting: February- August.

Distribution: India: In evergreen forests of Western Ghats up to 1200 m. Assam, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andaman Islands. Sri Lanka and Malesia.

Uses: The seeds are roasted and eaten.

Spatholobus purpureus Benth. ex Baker (PAPILIONACEAE)

Description: A large climbing shrub. Leaves 3-foliolate, rachis ca 14 cm long; petioles 3-7 cm long; leaflets oblong-elliptic or ovate-oblong, ca 16 x 9 cm, rounded at base, shortly acuminate at apex, glabrous on both the surfaces; main nerves 6-8 pairs. Flowers numerous in terminal and axillary leafy panicles. Calyx campanulate, lobes short. Corolla pruple, standard broadly ovate, with a long claw. Stamens 10, diadelphous; anthers uniform. The ovary is sessile, with an incurved style and a capitate stigma. The fruit is an indehiscent pod, oblong and falcate, measuring approximately 10 x 2 cm, with reticulate veining. It contains a solitary, compressed seed.

Flowering & Fruiting: December – May.

Distribution: India: South India. Endemic.

Spondias pinnata (L. f.) Kurz (ANACARDIACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Amate mara, Ambate mara, Kaadu amate.
Tulu: Ambatte mara.
Malayalam: Manpuli.
Tamil: Pullipulanh.
Telugu: Kondamanidi.
English: Hog-plum.

Description: Deciduous trees, 20-25 m tall with smooth, grey bark. Leaves usually crowded at the ends of the branches, alternate, imparipinaate, 18-50 cm long; petioles 5-15 cm long; leaflets 4-5 pairs, subopposite, elliptic-oblong, 6-18×5-8.5 cm, obliquely rounded at base, caudate-acuminate at apex, entire, membranous or subcoriaceous, nerves parallel meeting in an intra-marginal nerve; petiolules up to 1 cm long. Flowers polygamous, in 14-28 cm long panciles, greenish-white. Calyx 5-lobed, lobes triangular, pubescent. Petals 5, glabrous. Stamens 10. Disc deeply 5-lobed, thick, fleshy. Ovary 5-celled, superior, sessile. The fruit is an ovoid-oblong drupe, measuring 1.5-5 x 1-3.5 cm, and displays a yellow hue. The pulp is soft, acidic, and aromatic, while the stone is woody, hard, and rough with irregular furrows and cavities. Typically, there is one seed, though occasionally 2 or 3 may be present.

Flowering & Fruiting: April – December.

Distribution: India: Widely distributed in deciduous forests ascending up to 1650 m in Himalayas. Uttara Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andaman Islands. Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka,Java, Philippines, Malay Penisular and Thailand.

Uses: The fruit is eaten and used in curry. Wood not strong, employed for packing-cases, tea-chests, floats, canoes, boats, match splints and non-ornamental plywood. The bark is used for tanning. Root used for regulating menstruation; bark used in dysentery, rheumatism; gum demulcent; leaf used in earache; fruit antiscorbutic and astringent. In Ayurveda the fruit is used in debility, thirst, tuberculosis, blood disorders and for alleviating vata and kapha.

Securinega leucopyrus (Willd.) Muell. – Arg. (EUPHORBIACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Bili sooli gida, Sooli.
Malayalam: Perinklavu
Sanskrit: Nilishila.
Tamil: Pulanji.
Telugu: Tella purugudu.

Description: Erect, rigid, much branched shrubs up to 5 m tall; branchlets angular, slender, usually ending in sharp spines. Leaves alternate, obovate to elliptic, up to 2.5 x 1.5 cm, acute or cuneate at base, emarginated at apex. Male flowers in axillary fascicles, greenish yellow; female solitary. Perianth lobes 5. There are 5 free stamens, and the disc consists of 5 glands alternating with the stamens. The pistilode is 3-fid. The fruits are globose, measuring about 5 mm across, with 3 cells, and appear white when ripe. The seeds are trigonous, smooth, and pale brown.

Flowering & Fruiting: May – September.

Distribution: India: Punjab, Rajasthan and Western Peninsula. Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar.

Uses: Juice or paste of leaves used along with tobacco to destroy worms in the sores.

Schefflera venulosa (Wight & Arn.) Harms (ARALIACEAE)

Description: Large stragglers/climbing glabrous shrubs with grey shining bark. Leaves digitate or palmately compound, crowded at the ends of branchlets; leaflets 3-7 (commonly 5) elliptic-oblong or elliptic-ovate, 7-19 x 5-9 cm rounded at base, acuminate at apex, coriaceous, glabrous; petioles 7-20 cm long, stout; petiolules 2.5-5 cm long; stipules connate. Flowers in ca 25 cm long terminal branched panicles, with a number of stalked 8-12 flowered umbellules along a glabrous purple rachis. Calyx truncate, lobes 5. Petals 5, greenish-white. There are 5 stamens, short-filamented and inserted around the disc; the disc is either concave or conical. The ovary is 5-locular, with a short or absent style and a sessile stigma. The fruit is a subglobose, 5-angled drupe, approximately 6 mm in length, and brownish-black. The seeds, numbering 5, are laterally compressed.

Flowering & Fruiting: March – June.

Distribution: India: Throughout. Common in moist deciduous to evergreen forests of Western Ghats. Indo-china, Myanmar, Malaya, Tropical Australia.

Schleichera oleosa (Lour.) Oken (SAPINDACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Jendala chakota, Sagade kendala.
Malayalam: Puvam.
Tamil: Kolama, Puvam, Puvatti.
English: Ceylon Oak tree, Lac tree.

Description: Deciduous trees up to 25 m tall. Leaves alternate, paripinnate, up to 40 cm long; leaflets opposite, 2-4 pairs, elliptic, elliptic-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, up to 18 x 7.5 cm. rounded at base, obtuse to acute or rarely shortly acuminate at apex; young leaflets pink or red in colour. Flowers polygamodioecious, fascicled on axillary, up to 10 cm long, interrupted racemes, pale green. Calyx copular. Petals 0. Disc undulate. The fruits are subglobose, reaching dimensions of up to 1.7 x 2 cm, with a crustaceous, indehiscent nature and a tip formed by the style. They can be smooth or frequently adorned with blunt prickles. Each fruit contains 1-2 compressed, brown seeds, enveloped in a fleshy aril.

Flowering & Fruiting: February – November.

Distribution: India: Throughout in subtropical, dry deciduous forests up to 1000 m. Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Uses:

• The unripe fruits undergo pickling, while the mature ones exhibit an acidic taste and are commonly consumed. The seeds can be ingested either in their raw state or after roasting. Additionally, young shoots are also a part of the edible components. Kusum oil, a fatty oil obtained from the seeds is known in commerce as Macassar oil. Kusum oil is used for hair dressing. It is also used for culinary and lighting purposes and as a lubricant for machinery. For edible purposes, the oil should be properly refined and deodorized to remove cyanogenic glucosides.
• Wood is used for oil and sugar mills, rice pounders, pestles, axles and hubs, felloes and stocks of cart wheels, shafts, mortars, violin bows and agricultural implements such as yokes, ploughs and harrows, and for turnery articles. It is suitable for tool handles required for heavy working, such as hammers, pick axes etc. The treated timber is suitable for construction, cabinet work, beams, rafters, purlins, trusses, posts, sleepers and for wagon building.
• It is employed for road paving, as block flooring in mills and warehouses, and serves as pit-props and side-props in mineshafts and galleries. It makes good fuel and excellent charcoal. In a mixture with other woods, the wood yields pulp suitable for the manufacture of wrapping and writing paper. Young shoots are lopped for fodder. The oil cake has good manorial value. The tree is an important host for kusumi-lac and the finest quality of lac is obtained from this tree.
• Bark astringent, used in applications for itch, pain in the back and loin, inflammations and ulcers; seed oil anti-inflammatory, stimulates hair growth, used for massage in rheumatism, applied in acne, burns and other skin troubles; bark, seed and oil are also used in diseases of kapha and vata, boils, leprosy, ulcers blood disorders, uterine bleeding, intermittent fever and snake-bite poisoning. Powdered seed applied to ulcers of animals for removing maggots.

Sapindus trifolius L. (SAPINDACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Antavaala, Nore kaayi.
Malayalam: Pasakotta.
Tamil: Manippungu, Puchikottai

Description: Trees, up to 10 m tall. Leaves alternate, paripinnate; leaflets subopposite, 2-4 pairs, lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, up to 17.5 x 10 cm, acute or rounded at base, acuminate at apex. Flowers polygamous, in terminal rusty-pubescent panicles, white. Sepals 5 in 2 series, pubescent without. The petals, numbering 5, have short claws and are adorned with 2 scales at the base, exhibiting white-villous characteristics on both sides. The disc has a hirsute margin, and there are 8 stamens. The fruit is a schizocarp consisting of 1-3 indehiscent cocci, approximately 1.5 x 1.2 cm in size, densely villous in their youth. The seeds are black.

Flowering & Fruiting : September – March.

Distribution: India: In deciduous, semi-evergreen and evergreen forests. Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Pakistan, Sri Lanka.

Uses: Fruits are used as a substitute for soap, especially for washing clothes. Root-bark and fruit given internally as emetic, tonic, anthelmintic, alexipharmic, purgative, nauseant and as errhine, used in epilepsy, asthma, hysteria and hemicrania; fruit is used in leprosy, pruritus, boils and as abortifacient.

Sapium insigne (Royle) Benth. & Hook. f. (EUPHORBIACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Kannu pade.
Tulu: Kanappati.
Tamil: Sakkarakkalli.

Description: Small deciduous trees up to 8 m tall; juice milky. Leaves opposite, crowded at the ends of branchlets, elliptic, oblong-lanceolate to obovate, attenuate at base, acute to acuminate at apex with crenate-serrate margin, bright green; petioles up to 5 cm long, glandular. Flowers appearing when the tree is bare of leaves, in terminal, up to 20 cm long, robust spikes; the female spike much thickened in fruit. Male flowers are grouped in sessile clusters, with several in each bract, while female flowers are solitary in each bract. The perianth lobes number 2 or 3. Stamens are 2, with free filaments. The ovary is glabrous, and there are three styles. The capsules are ovoid, approximately 0.9 cm in diameter, and fleshy, containing orbicular seeds.

Flowering : January.
Fruiting: March – April.

Distribution: India: Himalayas from Simla and Kumaon, Assam and Western Peninsula. Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh.

Uses: Wood very soft and spongy, suitable for floats, packing-cases, toys, drums, sandals and matchboxes. Milky juice acrid and vesicant.