Acronychia pedunculata Uses and benefits

Tamil: Muttanari
Malayalam: Vidu kaneli

Description:    Small evergreen trees, up to 8 m  tall; bark grey, glossy, smooth or lenticellate. Leaves opposite, 1- foliolate, 6.5 – 21 cm long; petioles 1-3 cm long, horizontally grooved above, swollen at both ends; leaflet blade  elliptic-obovate or elliptic-oblong, up to 19 x 9 cm,  acute to cuneate at base, abruptly and shortly acuminate at apex, entire, gland-dotted, glabrous secondary; nerves 12-20 pairs. Flowers in axillary or terminal 5 – 18 cm long paniculate corymbose cymes, greenish white. Sepals 4, connate below, suborbicular, obtuse, puberscent, persistent. Petals 4, valvate, linear-oblong from a broader base, obtuse at apex, concave, glabrous, cream-yellowish.  Stamens 8, inserted at base of disc; anthers basifixed. Disc 8-angled.  Ovary  4 – lobed, 4-locular, each with 2 ovules.  Fruit a drupe, subglobose or ovoid or ellipsoid, up to 1.2 cm across, green when ripe, dark-brownish turning to black on drying.  Seeds 2 to 4, ovoid, green.

Flowering and Fruiting:  February- May.

Destribution:  India : In evergreen and semi-evergreen forests at altitudes ranging from sea level to 2065 m. Uttara Pradesh, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura, Orissa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, N. Vietnam, S. Vietnam, China, Sumatra, Malaya peninsula, Borneo, Philippines, Celebes and Papua.

Uses:  The tender leaves are used as condiment. Charcoal obtained from the wood burns clean and is therefore preferred by goldsmiths. The leaves yield an aromatic essential oil. Root and bark used in external application for sores and ulcers; bark tonic and used in scabies.