Digital Garden

Flacourtia montana Graham

വയ്യങ്കയ്‌ത

Family : FLACOURTIACEAE

Synonym : No synonyms are recorded for this name

Common Names : Charalmaram, Kattuloika

Flowering Period : April – June

Distribution : India

Habitat : Evergreen and semi-evergreen forests

Uses : Fruits edible. An important herb in Ayurveda, where infusions of the bark, leaves and root are used medicinally to treat conditions such as fever, diarrhoea and inflammations. The leaf is carminative, astringent and used as a tonic, an expectorant and for asthma, pain relief, gynaecological complaints and as an anthelmintic, and treatment for hydrocele, pneumonia and intestinal worms. The leaves are used as an antidote to snake bites. In India, an infusion of the bark is used as a gargle for hoarseness. In Madagascar, the bark, triturated in oil, is used as an anti-rheumatic liniment. The bark is used as a tanning material. Wood used for agricultural implements such as ploughs etc.

Key Characters :

Thorny trees to 8 m, thorns about 5 cm long, bark grey, thin, smooth. Leaves simple, alternate, spiral, ovate, elliptic, margin crenate-serrate. Flowers unisexual, small, in axillary congested pubescent cymes. Sepals 4 or 5 tomentose, small, imbricate. Petals absent. Stamens many; anthers versatile. Ovary superior, incompletely 2-5 locular, ovules 2 in each cell. Fruit a berry, globose, bright red, of an agreeable acid flavour.