Macaranga peltata (Roxb.) Müll.Arg.

വട്ട

Family : Euphorbiaceae

Synonym : Osyris peltata Roxb.

Common Names : Vatta, Macaranga

Flowering Period : January – February

Distribution : India, Sri Lanka and Andaman’s

Habitat : Moist deciduous and secondary forests, also in the plains

Uses : Roots, bark and leaves are fairly commonly used internally in traditional medicine in South-East Asia, usually as a decoction, to treat stomach-ache, dysentery, haemoptysis, cough and fever. The leaves, and sometimes resin, are applied externally to wounds, ulcers, sores and boils.

Key Characters :

Macaranga peltata are dioecious trees; bark greyish-brown mottled with white, smooth. Leaves simple, alternate, ovate, apex acute, base peltate, margin entire. Flowers unisexual, greenish-yellow. Male flowers: in axillary panicles; tepals 3, minute, obovate; stamens 2-8. Female flowers: in panicles; tepals 4; ovary superior, ovule one in each cell; style lateral; stigma sessile. Fruit a capsule, globose.