Ailanthus triphysa (Dennst.) Alston

മാട്ടി

Family : SIMAROUBACEAE

Synonym : Ailanthus malabarica DC.

Common Names : Matti, Mattipala, Pongallyam, Perumaram, Pongilium, Maharukh

Flowering Period : January-May

Distribution : Indo-Malesia and Australia

Habitat : Semi-evergreen forests, also planted in the plains

Uses : Dye yielding, bowl carving, resin used as incense, exudates is useful in making medicine, varnishes

Key Characters :

Lofty deciduous trees, to 30 m high, bark grey, smooth, lenticellate; blaze pale yellow with reddish-brown sclerotic granules. Leaves imparipinnate, alternate, crowded towards the apex of branches, estipulate; rachis 26.5-52.5 cm long, stout, slightly ridged above, glabrous, swollen at base; leaflets 11-23, opposite or subopposite; petiolule 5-10 mm, slender, glabrous, ridged above; lamina 8.5-17 x 2-6.5 cm, oblong-ovate, oblong-lanceolate or elliptic to lanceolate, base oblique, apex acute or acuminate, margin entire, revolute, glabrous, coriaceous; lateral nerves 8-16 pairs, pinnate, prominent, intercostae reticulate, prominent. Flowers polygamous, greenish-yellow, in axillary panicles; male flowers: sepal 5, ovate, acute, pubescent, imbricate; petals 5, erect, glabrous, valvate; disc 10-lobed; stamens 10; anthers ovate; pistillode rudimentary, cordate; bisexual flowers: sepals and petals as in male flowers; stamens 2 or 3; disc 10-lobed; ovary 5 partite, superior, ovule 1 in each cell; style connate; stigmas plumose. Fruit a samara, 1-5, oblong, 5-6 x 1.5-2.5 cm, prominently veined, not twisted, reddish-brown with rounded ends.