Hymenodictyon obovatum Wallich (RUBIACEAE)
Common names
Kannada: Gandele, Hiremara.
Description: Small or medium-sized deciduous trees, up to 8 m tall with grey bark. Leaves obovate or elliptic, 10-15 x 4-8 cm, cuneate at base, acuminate at apex, glabrescent; main nerves 6-8 pairs; petioles 2.5-5 cm long; stipules obovate-oblong with glandular margins. Flowers small in sessile clusters along the rachis of dense cylindric pubescent panicled spikes, greenish, pungent odor. Calyx broadly companulate, lobes 5. Corolla tube short, lobes 5, pubescent outside, white. Stamens 5, inserted below the throat of corolla; filaments short. The ovary is 2-locular with a filiform style and a fusiform stigma. The fruit is an ellipsoid, loculicidal capsule, measuring 1.5 – 2 cm in length, standing erect, and appearing brown. Numerous seeds, approximately 6 mm long, are narrowly winged.
Flowering & Fruiting: September– July.
Distribution: India: Western Ghats – Konkan, Karnataka to Travancore, up to 1200 m. Endemic.
Uses: Inner bark astringent and used as a substitute for quinine.