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.
