Poeciloneuron indicum Beddome (GUTTIFERAE)
Common names
Kannada: Baleega.
Malayalam: Vayala.
Tamil: Puthangkolli, Vadinangu.
Description: Large evergreen trees, up to 50 m tall; older trees often buttressed with stilt roots; bark grey or dark grey to brown, rough; latex yellow. Leaves elliptic, elliptic-oblong or rarely lanceolate, 10-25×4-6.5 cm, rounded or cuneate at base, acuminate at apex, coriaceous, glossy dark green; secondary nerves very close, equidistant, curved towards margins; petioles 1- 4 cm long. Flowers in terminal panicles, up to 2 cm in diameter, yellowish white, creamy or white, fragrant. Sepals 5, ovate, imbricate, slightly puberulous outside. The petals are elliptic to obovate in shape, numbering five. The stamens, arranged in two whorls, can be up to 20 in total, with slightly connate filaments at the base. The fruit is a capsule, either ellipsoid or globose, measuring 2.5-4 cm across, displaying ribs, and having a dull pinkish color. Each capsule contains a solitary, fleshy seed, approximately 2×1.5 cm in size.
Flowering : March – May.
Fruiting : September – December.
Distribution: India: Common in evergreen forests of Western Ghats up to 1200 m, on the wet slopes, often forming clumps. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic.
Uses: Wood reddish brown, hard, used especially for railway sleepers, posts, poles, planks, beams, trusses, joints, rafters, agricultural implements, house construction, bridge building, walking-sticks, rice pounders etc. Root made into a paste in goat’s milk and taken internally on the first and second day of menstruation acts as an oral contraceptive.