Category: Uses and benefits

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Santalum album L.

Santalum album L. (SANTALACEAE)

Santalum album L.

Common names
Kannada: Srigandha.
Malayalam: Chandanam.
Sanskrit: Chandana, Taliaparnam.
Tamil: Sandanam.
Telugu: Chandanamu.
English: Sandalwood tree.

Description: Compact evergreen trees, reaching heights of up to 10 meters, adorned with slender, drooping branches; characterized by grey bark and exhibiting facultative root parasitism during their early stages. Leaves opposite or whorled, ovate or elliptic-lanceolate, 4-8 x 1.5-4 cm, cuneate at base, acute at apex, glabrous, thin, glaucous beneath; petioles 1-1.5 cm long. Flowers in 4-6 cm long terminal and axillary paniculate cymes, brownish-purple. Perianth campanulate, lobes 4 (rarely 5), purplish-brown within. Disc cupular, 4-5 lobed. Stamens 4, exserted; filaments short. Ovary unilocular; style short; stigma 2-3 lobed. Fruit a drupe, subglobose or globose, 1-1.5 cm across, purple-black when ripe. Seed solitary, subglobose.

Flowering & Fruiting: March – August.

Distribution: India: W. Peninsula.

Uses: The wood is dense and finely grained, with heartwood displaying a yellowish-brown hue and a potent fragrance. Highly prized in the market, it serves various commercial purposes such as carving, incense production, oil distillation, as an unguent, and for use in religious ceremonies. The wood is dense and finely grained, with heartwood displaying a yellowish-brown hue and a potent fragrance. Highly prized in the market, it serves various commercial purposes such as carving, incense production, oil distillation, as an unguent, and for use in religious ceremonies.

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Samadera indica Gaertner

Samadera indica Gaertner (SIMAROUBACEAE)

Samadera indica Gaertner

Common names
Kannada: Nippa, Samadera.
Malayalam: Karinjotta.
Tamil: Nibam,Niepa, Karinjottei.

Description: Small evergreen trees up to 12 m tall. Leaves alternate, elliptic-oblong, up to 30 x 11 cm, rounded or subacute at base, acute-acuminate at apex, glossy; shining; petioles ca 2 cm long. Flowers in few- or many- flowered, 7-30 cm long axillary or terminal umbels, white, pale yellow or purplish, fragrant. Calyx small, lobes 4, puberulous outside. Petals 4, free, oblong-oblanceolate, ca 20 x 4 mm, dorsally pubescent. Stamens 8; filaments puberulous. The ovary consists of 4-5 distinct, free carpels. The fruits are composed of 1-5 drupes, nearly semicircular, measuring up to 6.5 x 4 cm. They are highly compressed, smooth, reticulate, and exhibit a red color. Each fruit contains a solitary seed.

Flowering & Fruiting : Almost throughout the year.

Distribution: India: Evergreen forests and along back waters and sandy places in Western Ghats and Deccan plateau. Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Andaman Islands. Sri Lanka, Myanmar.

Uses: Wood is light and used for turnery articles, packing-cases and is suitable for cheap and light furniture, match wood. It is the source of niepa bark of commerce. Bark and wood stomachic, emmenagogue, febrifuge, tonic, useful in dyspepsia, flatulence, colic, dysmenorrhoea, general debility and in vitiated conditions of vata, leaf useful in crysipelas and pruritus; seed oil astringent, depurative, emetic, purgative, febrifuge, useful in leprosy, scabies, constipation, bilious fever and vitiated conditions of vata and kapha.

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Saraca asoca (Roxb.) Wilde

Saraca asoca (Roxb.) Wilde (CAESALPINIACEAE)

Saraca asoca (Roxb.) Wilde

Common names
Kannada: Ashokada mara.
Malayalam: Asoka, Asokam, Hema pushpam.
Tamil & Telugu: Asogam, Asoka.

Description: Small trees, 10-12 m tall. Leaves even-pinnate; rachis 10-25 cm long; leaflets 3-6 pairs, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 13-23 x 5-8 cm, acute or rounded at base, acute to acuminate obtuse at apex; coriaceous. Stipules connate, intrapetiolar. Flowers in axillary, often lateral, 5 cm long, 10 cm broad, dense corymbose panicles, showy, yellow, orange or red. Bracteoles erect, embracing the calyx tube, longer than bract. Calyx 4-lobed, lobes 1 x 0.5 cm, spreading, orange-red, tube 1.5 – 2 cm long. Petals 0. Stamens 6-8, usually 7; filaments slender; anthers oblong. The ovary is linear, containing 4 or more ovules, with a coiled style and a capitate stigma. The fruit is a dehiscing flat pod, oblong, measuring 5-15 x 2.5 cm, and is coriaceous or nearly woody, with a short apiculate. The seeds are obovate-orbicular and compressed.

Flowering : December – January.
Fruiting : May – July.

Distribution: Indomalasia. Frequent in moist deciduous forests of the Western Ghats. Often cultivated.

Uses:

  • The pods are known to serve as excellent forage for cattle. Additionally, it is commonly cultivated as both an ornamental and avenue tree. This plant holds significant religious importance for Hindus and Buddhists, with its flowers being extensively utilized in religious ceremonies and temple decorations.
  • Bark astringent, antibilious, uterine sedative, used in leucorrhoea, menorrhagia and other menstrual disorders, in haemorrhoid, dyspepsia, colic, pimples; bark and flower antibilious, used in haemorrhagic dysentery; leaf blood purifier, used in stomach-ache; flower uterine tonic, antidiabetic, antisyphilitic; seed used in urinary discharges.
  • In Ayurveda, the bark is employed for addressing conditions such as worm infestation, polyuria, fever, leprosy, and gynecological disorders. Notably, well-known Ayurvedic formulations that feature this bark include “Ashokarishta” and “Ashokaghrita.” The former is prescribed in leucorrhoea, haematuria, menorrhagia and other diseases of genitor-uterine system of females.
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Reinwardtiodendron anamalaiense

Reinwardtiodendron anamalaiense (Beddome) Saldanha (MELIACEAE)

Reinwardtiodendron anamalaiense

Common name
Kannada: Santhana beeja.

Description: These evergreen trees reach heights of up to 20 meters. The leaves are imparipinnate, measuring 10-30 cm in length, with 4-6 elliptic-lanceolate leaflets, each up to 16 x 6 cm. The leaflets are arranged alternately, acute or subequilateral at the base, and have an acute apex, featuring domatia in the axis of veins on the lower side. Flowers in axillary spikes or panicles with spicate branches, bisexual white. Calyx 5-lobed, imbricate. Petals 5, free, imbricate, staminal tube globose; anthers 10, in 2 whorls of 5 each, lower with prolonged connectives. Ovary 4-5-locular; locules with 2 collateral ovules; stigma 4-5-lobed. Fruit a berry. Seeds reniform, exarillate with sarcotesta.

Flowering & Fruiting : March – July.

Distribution: India: Western Ghats . Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic.

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Pterocarpus marsupium Roxb.

Pterocarpus marsupium Roxb. (PAPILIONACEAE)

Pterocarpus marsupium Roxb.

Common names
Kannada: Raktha honne, Volle honne;
Tulu: Benga.
Malayalam: Venga.
Tamil: Vengai.
Telugu: Yegi.
English: Indian kino tre.

Description: Large deciduous trees, 20-25 m tall; bark thick, yellowish – grey with vertical cracks. Leaves alternate, imparipinnate, rachis 15-25 cm long; leaflets 5-7, alternate, elliptic-ovate to oblong, ca 11×7 cm, subacuate at base, obtuse, rounded, truncate or more or less retuse at the apex, glabrous; petioles 0.5 – 1 cm long. Flowers in 12-15 cm long, terminal, paniculate racemes. Calyx tube campanulate, dark brown. Corolla 1.5 cm long, petals all long-clawed, yellow. Stamens 10, monadelphous becoming isodiadelphous. The ovary is shortly stalked, featuring a filiform style and a capitate stigma. The fruit is a nearly circular pod with a broad wing, accompanied by a lateral sub-basal beak, measuring approximately 4 cm across. It has a convex shape and is pubescent. The seed is small.

Flowering : May – October.
Fruiting : July – February.

Distribution: India: South W. India. Common in dry deciduous forests, up to 1500 m.Sri Lanka.

Uses:

  • The wood, displaying a yellowish-brown hue with darker streaks, is exceptionally hard and durable. It finds versatile use in construction, serving as material for doors, window frames, rafters, beams, posts, furniture, agricultural implements, railway sleepers, electric transmission poles, and pit props in mines. It is used in the construction of railway carriages, wagons, carts and boats. It is also used for drums, tool handles, camp furniture, mathematical instruments, picture-frames, combs, sport rifles and parts of textile looms. The wood is used as a fuel. The tree yields a gum-Kino which exudes when an incision is made through the bark.
  • Kino is utilized in dyeing, tanning, and printing processes, while the leaves serve as excellent fodder. Additionally, the leaves are highly valued as a nutrient-rich manure in arecanut plantations. Kino from incision in bark astringent, used in diarrhoea, haemorrhage, haematuria, tongue diseases, locally in leucorrhoea; flower and Kino from bark febrifuge; leaf used externally on boils, sores and other skin diseases.
  • The wood is purported to exhibit antidiabetic effects, and a decoction derived from it is prescribed to reduce blood sugar levels. Containers crafted from this wood are recommended for diabetic patients to store water. The efficacy of the water as an antidiabetic agent is believed to enhance when stored overnight in these containers and consumed in the morning.
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Pterospermum rubiginosum Hyene ex Wight & Arn.

Pterospermum rubiginosum Hyene ex Wight & Arn. (STERCULIACEAE)

Pterospermum rubiginosum Hyene ex Wight & Arn.

Common names
Malayalam: Malam-thodali.
Tamil: Chittilepolavu.

Description: The trees can reach heights of up to 25 meters, with slender and pendulous branchlets. The leaves are arranged alternately, obliquely ovate-lanceolate, reaching dimensions of up to 10 x 6 cm. They have an obliquely cordate base, an acuminate apex, and are covered with appressed brown stellate hairs on the lower surface. The petioles extend up to 6 mm in length. Flowers solitary, axillary, white, fragrant. Calyx lobes 5, linear, revolute, rusty pubescent outside, silky within. Petals 5, obovate-oblong to linear, up to 3 x 2 cm. staminal column adnate to gynophore; fertile stamens 15 in 5 groups of 3 between the staminode and opposite. The sepals; stamens ca 1.5 cm long, staminodes ca 2 cm long. Ovary inserted on top of staminal column on the gynophore 5-locular; stigma obscurely 5-lobed. Fruit a dehiscing capsule, oblong, up to 8 x 2 cm, beaked, 5-angled, downy. Seeds winged, brown.

Flowering : September – February.
Fruiting : May – July.

Distribution: India: In evergreen forests up to 1000 m. Assam, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Uses: Wood pink, hard, close-grained, used for house building and for making boats, matchboxes and splints. Wood suitable for paper-pulp.

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Pterospermum reticulatum wight & Arn.

Pterospermum reticulatum wight & Arn. (STERCULIACEAE)

Pterospermum reticulatum wight & Arn.

Common names
Malayalam: Mala vuram.
Tamil: Muli polavu, Thopuli.

Description: Trees, up to 25 m tall. Leaves elliptic-obovate, up to 12 x 9 cm, cuneate to obliquely subcordate at base, acuminate at apex, entire or coarsely toothed near apex, underside covered with cream-coloured mealy tomentum dotted with darker minute stellate hairs, 3-nerved at base. Flowers 1-3, axillary,ca 3 cm across, yellowish. Bracteoles laceriate. Sepals 5, linear – lanceolate, connate at base, rusty stillate-hairy outside. Petals 5, obovate-oblong, recurved. Stamens 15 in 5 groups of 3 between the 5 filiform staminodes; connective produced into a terminal point. The ovary is positioned at the apex of the staminal column and is 5-locular. The capsules are either ovoid or oblong, measuring 5-7 x 3 cm, with obtuse 5-angled contours. They are slightly constricted at the base, stellate-pubescent, and open through loculicidal 5-valved dehiscence. In each locule, there are four seeds, featuring wings above.

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

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

Uses: Sometimes planted as roadside tree.

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Pterospermum diversifolium Blume

Pterospermum diversifolium Blume (STERCULIACEAE)

Pterospermum diversifolium Blume

Common names
Malayalam: Pambaram.
Tamil: Mooli, Vattapolavu.

Description: The trees can reach heights of up to 20 meters, with young parts displaying a fine rusty pubescence. The leaves are arranged alternately, obovate-oblong to elliptic, reaching dimensions of up to 30 x 15 cm. They feature a cordate base, an acuminate apex, and a hairy underside. The petioles extend up to 1.5 cm in length, and the stipules, measuring up to 13 mm, are caducous. Flowers up to 15 cm long, on short axillary 1-3- flowered peduncles, yellowish white, scented. Calyx lobes 5, linear, rusty tomentose outside, silky inside. Petals 5, spathulale. Staminal column adnate to gynophore; fertile stamens 15 in 5 groups of 3 between the staminodes and opposite sepals; stamens 8-10 cm long; staminodes 10-11 cm long. Gymnophore 2.5-3.5 cm long. Ovary inserted on top of staminal column on the gymnophore, 5-locular; stigma fusiform. Fruit a dehiscing capsule, up to 25 x 4 cm, woody, sulcate, 5-angled, abruptly constricted at base and apex, brown. Seeds slightly rhomboid ca 1 x 1 cm compressed with 2.5 – 3 cm long wing at one end,brown.

Flowering : September– November.
Fruiting : April – June.

Distribution: India: Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Malesia.

Uses: Bark chewed with betel as a masticatory.

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Psychotria flavida Talbot

Psychotria flavida Talbot (RUBIACEAE)

Psychotria flavida Talbot

Description: Small shrub, up to 2 m tall. Leaves opposite, elliptic-oblong, 10-25 x 5-10 cm, cuneate at base, acute or shortly acuminate at apex, coriaceous, glabrous; main nerves 10-12 pairs; petioles 0.5-1.0 cm long; stipules ovate, acuminate, deciduous. Flower in terminal peduncled cymes, cyme branches greenish, turning bright yellow in fruit. Calyx truncate; teeth obscure or 0. Corolla tube short, densely hairy in the throat inside, lobes 5. Stamens 5; inserted at throat of corolla, included. Ovary 2-locular; style short; stigma bifid. The fruit is a drupe, either ellipsoid or subglobose, measuring 6 mm in diameter. It is compressed, crowned with the calyx, and turns black when ripe. The seeds are planocomy, rugose, black, with a ruminate albumen.

Flowering & Fruiting : May – August.

Distribution: India: Abundant in the evergreen forests of Western Ghats and W. Coast. Endemic.

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Psychotria dalzellii Hook. f.

Psychotria dalzellii Hook. f. (RUBIACEAE)

Psychotria dalzellii Hook. f.

Description: These sizable shrubs can reach a height of up to 6 meters. Their leaves are arranged oppositely, obovate-oblong in shape, measuring 12-24 x 5-8 cm. The leaves have a cuneate base, a rounded or obtuse apex, and a coriaceous, glabrous texture. The main nerves are organized in 12-20 pairs, while the petioles are 1.0-2.0 cm long. Additionally, the stipules are broadly ovate and approximately 2.0 cm long. Flowers in terminal peduncled brachiate cymes, white. Bracts and bracteoles large and persistent. Calyx broadly campanulate, lobes 5. Corolla tube very short, densely beared in the throat, lobes 5. Stamens 5, included, attached to the throat of corolla. Ovary 2-locular; style short; stigma bifid. Fruit a drupe, ovoid or subglobose, ca 1 cm diam., smooth, succulent, black when ripe, crowned by the calyx-limb. Seeds planoconvex, rugose, albumen ruminate.

Flowering & Fruiting : May – October.

Distribution: India: Western Peninsula. Endemic.