Crateva religiosa G.Forst.

നീര്‍മാതളം

Family : Capparaceae

Synonym : Capparis magna Lour.

Common Names : Neermathalam, Mavulangam, Garlic Pear Tree

Flowering Period : March – April

Distribution : Indo-Malesia and China

Habitat : River banks in semi-evergreen forests

Uses : Vitamin C source, fruits edible, the juice from the bitter stem or root bark is used in decoction for stimulating the appetite or as a digestive, as a laxative against colic and as a febrifuge, the root bark is used to treat urolithiasis, the fresh leaves are rubefacient and tonic, they are applied as a tonic and skin irritant against high fever, the bark is used to wash clothes, bark is used locally for carving and to make household utensils, drums and match sticks.

Key Characters :

Trees, to 10 m high, bark surface grey, smooth, longitudinally wrinkled. Leaves alternate, digitately trifoliate; leaflets unequal, ovate, margin entire. Flowers bisexual, creamy white, in terminal corymbs. Sepals 4, free, oblong, adnate to the lobed disc. Petals 4, creamy white, often tinged with purple. Disc incurved, nectariferous. Stamens many, free, inserted at the base of gynophores. Ovary superior, ellipsoid. Fruit a berry, globose, yellowish-grey; seeds brown, embedded in pulp.