Persea macranta (Nees) Kosterm. (LAURACEAE)
Common names
Kannada: Gulamavu, Kurma, Seeme maavu.
Tulu: Kulurmavu.
Malayalam: Uravu.
Tamil: Kolla mavu.
Description: These evergreen trees reach heights of 15-20 meters and feature blackish bark. The leaves are arranged alternately, penninerved, and elliptic-oblong or elliptic-lanceolate, measuring 6-19 x 3-8 cm. They have rounded or acute ends, a shiny upper surface, and a glaucous underside. The petioles are 2-3 cm long, and there are 8-12 pairs of main nerves. Flowers in 15-20 cm long copiously branched panicles near the ends of the branches, bisexual, greenish yellow. Perianth lobes 6, oblong or linear-oblong, subacute, silky-pubescent inside and outside; tube very short, greenish-yellow. Stamens 9, filaments hairy. Ovary ovoid, sessile; style narrow; stigma discoid. Fruit a berry, globose, ca 2 cm across, smooth, dark green dotted with white, ultimately becoming black. Seed solitary.
Flowering & Fruiting: December – April.
Distribution : India: South India. Frequent in moist deciduous to semi-evergreen forests of Western Ghats. Sri Lanka.
Uses: Wood reddish white, rough, used for planking and other purposes. Bark purgative, used in asthma, consumption and rheumatism; leaves applied to ulcers.
