Melastoma malabathricum L. (MELASTOMATACEAE)
Common names
Kannada & Tulu: Nekkare.
Malayalam: Kadali, Kalampatti.
Tamil: Kadalai, Nakkukaruppan.
Telugu: Pattudu.
Description: Shrubs, 1-2 m tall; stem and branches clothed with scales. Leaves opposite, elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate or ovate-oblong, 5-12 x 1.5 – 4 cm, rounded at base, acute at apex, strigose above, appressedly-hairy, scaly on nerves beneath; nerves 3-7; petioles 1-1.5 cm long, scaly, hairy. Flowers in terminal corymbose 1-5-flowered panicles, purplish; peduncle ca 1.3 cm long, densely scaly; pedicels ca 1.2 cm long, scaly. Calyx campanulate, densely clothed with silvery scales; lobes 5, lanceolate, scaly without, glabrous within. Corolla lobes 5, large, pink or purple. There are 10 stamens with unequal yellow filaments, and the anthers alternate between yellow and red. The ovary is semi-inferior and 5-locular, with a style approximately 1.8 cm long and an obtuse stigma. The fruit is an irregularly dehiscing, berry-like capsule that is ovoid, measuring 1-1.5 cm across, and turns yellowish-green when ripe. Numerous minute, curved seeds are present.
Flowering & Fruiting: Throughout the year.
Distribution: India: Throughout. Common under light cover, in evergreen and moist deciduous forests, up to 2000 m.
Uses: The leaves, flowers and fruits are eaten. Suitable for growing in gardens. Bark wound healer; leaf antiseptic, used in diarrhoea, used for local application in smallpox to prevent pox-marks; leaf and flowering top astringent and antileucorrhoeic.