Garcinia morella (Gaertner) Desr. (GUTTIFERAE)
Common names
English: Mysore Gamboge tree, Indian Gamboge tree.
Kannada: Ardala or Hardala, Devanahuli.
Malayalam: Chingiri, Daramba.
Description: Trees, up to 17 m tall with spreading branches and dense crown; branchlets quadrangular; bark brownish-grey or brown to dark brown, exuding brilliant, dark yellow, sticky, thick latex. Leaves elliptic, ovate, obovate or oblanceolate, 10-16×4-9 cm, acute or cuneate at base, obtuse or shortly obtuse-acuminate at apex; lateral veins slender, obliquely parallel; petioles 8-10 mm long. Male flowers ca 3 in axillary, leafy fascicles or on old wood, faintly fragrant. Sepals 4, greenish white. Petals 4, white to pink. Stamens numerous (25-40) in a central, subglobose mass; anthers red. Rudimentary pistil absent. Female flowers solitary, axillary, equal to or larger than male flowers. Sepals persistent. Staminodes 10-12, connate at base into a ring round the ovary. Ovary 4-locular; stigmas yellow, turning brown-red, persistent. The fruit is a berry, either subglobose or globose, measuring 2-3 cm in diameter. It is smooth, sessile, and exhibits a yellowish color, containing yellow gamboges. The pulp is both sweet and acidic. The seeds, numbering 4, are kidney-shaped and dark brown with a muricate texture.
Flowering & Fruiting: November-July, fruits persist till December
Distribution: India: In evergreen, moist and dry deciduous forests from plains up to 1000 m. North-east India and Western Ghats. Meghalaya, Assam, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Malacca.
Uses:
- The seed oil, also known as ‘butter,’ finds application in cooking and confectionery, serving as a substitute for ghee. Additionally, it is utilized in the production of candles. Wood greyish yellow, very hard, used for cabinet work and temporary structures. It yields a beautiful pigment after attaining 20 years of age. This is the indigenous source of ‘gamboge’ The pigment is used in preparing water colours and golden-coloured spirit varnishes for metals and for dyeing silk fabrics.
- A golden yellow ink is also made for writing on black paper. The fruit rind is used in tanning. Gum-resin anthelmintic, hydragogue, cathartic, used in dropsy, splenic disorders, pain, wounds, amenorrhoea, obstinate constipation and cerebral congestion when rapid lowering of blood pressure is desired.
