Mangifera indica L. (ANACARDIACEAE)
Common names
Kannada: Mavina mara;
Malayalam: Manga.
Tamil: Manga, Mao.
Description: Trees, 20-45 m tall; glabrous except the inflorescence. Leaves alternate, linear-oblong or elliptic-lanceolate, 15-30×3.5-6.5 cm, cuneate at base, acute-acuminate at apex, thinly coriaceous; petioles 1.5 cm long. Panicles terminal, rarely axillary, 15-35 cm long. Flowers male and bisexual, 5 mm across, yellowish green or reddish white; pedicel 1.5- 3 mm long. Calyx 5-lobed; lobes 2×1 mm tomentose. Petals 5, elliptic, 3×1.2 mm, tips reflexed. Stamens 5, 1 fertile, 2.5 mm long, rest sterile. Ovary obliquely ovoid; style lateral, 2 mm long, 1-celled. The fruit is a sizable drupe with variable dimensions, ranging from oblong to subreniform. It is fleshy with sweet juice and can be green, yellowish, or red. The solitary seed is large, ovoid-oblong, and compressed.
Flowering & Fruiting: February – June.
Distribution: India: Sub Himalayan tract up to 1000 m, and other hilly areas of central, eastern and southern India. Cultivated in greater part of the country. Nepal,Bangladesh, Myanmar and Malaysia.
Uses:
- Tender fruits are transformed into pickles, while ripe fruits are known for their delicious flavor. The leaves find use in religious ceremonies. The wood, ranging in color from grey to greenish-brown, possesses moderate strength and is employed in various applications such as furniture, floor and ceiling boards, window frames, tea-chests, packing-boxes, matchboxes and splints, brush backs, as well as oar blades and agricultural implements.
- Additionally employed in the construction of dugouts, boats, plywood, and shoe heels, the wood of this plant produces a hard charcoal with high caloric value. The stem releases a gum resin, serving as a substitute for gum arabic. The bark yields a dye which is used in dying cotton, silk, wool etc. Bark used in uterine haemorrhage; fruit laxative, diuretic; seeds used in asthma. In Ayurveda bark, leaf, flower and seed kernel are used in ear diseases, diarrhoea, haemorrhage and menorrhagia.
