Tectona grandis L. f. (VERBENACEAE)
Common names
Kannada: Saguvani, Tega.
Malayalam: Tekka.
Tamil: Kalindi, Sagan, Takku.
Telugu: Pedda teku.
English: Teak tree.
Description: Large deciduous trees, up to 30 m tall with light brown or grey bark; branchlets quadrangular, channeled, stellately tomentose. Leaves opposite, elliptic or obovate, 30-60 x 15-30 cm, truncate or shortly narrowed at base, acute or acuminate at apex, coriaceous, the upper surface rough, glabrous, the lower clothed with dense stellate grey or tawny, tomentune; main nerves 8-10 pairs; petioles ca 6 cm long. Flowers in 30-90 cm long terminal branched tomentose cymose panicles, white, fragrant. Calyx semiglobose-campanulate, stellately tomentose, lobes 5 or 6. Corolla small, lobes 5 or 6, white. Stamens 5 or 6, inserted near the base of the corolla, exserted. The ovary has four locules, and the style is linear, with a shortly bifid stigma. The fruit is a subglobose drupe, approximately 1.5 cm in diameter, enclosed within the enlarged calyx. The seeds are erect and oblong.
Flowering & Fruiting: June – September.
Distribution: India: Peninsular regions, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, southern Uttara Pradesh, Gujarath, N. Circars, forests on both sides of the Godavari; Deccan and Carnatic in Hill forests in all forest districts; Wynaad, Anamalais and in dry forests at lower elevations of Travancore and Cochin in Western Ghats. Malaya, Sumatra, Java.
Uses:
- The wood possesses a dark brown or grey hue, and its hardness contributes to its significant value, making it highly sought after.The timber is one of the most important hard wood in the world is used for ship building, heavy constructions like bridge-building, piles in harbours, railway and other coach building, furniture and cabinet making, flooring, joinery and general carpentry, agricultural implements, making sound boards for musical instruments. The waste wood is used as fuel.
- The wood yields good charcoal. Tannin is extracted from leaves and is used for dyeing silk yellow. Root used in anuria and retention of urine; flower and seed diuretic; wood anthelmintic, expectorant, anticephalgic, antibilious, used in burning and pain over region of liver, inflammatory swellings; ash of wood used in inflammations of the eye lids, internally in dyspepsia; bark astringent, used in bronchitis; nut oil promotes hair growth, used in scabies.
