Mallotus philippensis (Lam.) Muell.-Arg.

സിന്ദൂരം

Family : EUPHORBIACEAE

Synonym : Croton philippensis Lam.

Common Names : Chenkolli, Kapila, Kuramaddaku, Kurangumanjal, Manjanampottu, Noorimaram, Ponoo, Ponnakam, Shenkolli, Sindooram, Thavatta, Monkey face tree, Kamala tree

Flowering Period : October-March

Distribution : Indo-Malesia and Australia

Habitat : Semi-evergreen, moist deciduous, evergreen and dry deciduous forests, also in the plains

Uses : Kamala powder, obtained from the skins of the fruits, is used as a preservative for vegetable oils and dairy products. The oil from the seed is used for colouring foodstuffs and beverages. Kamala powder, obtained from the skins of the fruits, is used as anthelmintic. The active compound is rottlerin. Rottlerin has been show to affect the fertility of female rats and guinea pigs, and is reportedly toxic to frogs, worms, and some fish species. In overdoses it causes nausea in humans. All parts of the tree can be applied externally to treat parasitic infections of the skin.

Key Characters :

Dioecious trees, to 12 m high, bark 4-5 mm thick, pale brown; branchlets, young leaves and inflorescence tawny or rusty pubescent. Leaves simple, alternate, 5-20 x 2-8 cm, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, apex acuminate or acute, base acute or round, margin entire or sparsely serrate, glabrous above, greyish pubescent to fulvous tomentose with minute red glands beneath; coriaceous; 3-ribbed from base, lateral nerves upto 6 pairs, pinnate, ascending, prominent, intercostae scalariform, prominent; stipules lateral, cauducous; petiole 7-60 mm long, stout, swollen at base, fulvous-pubescent with 2 small sessile glands on each side of the submit. Flowers unisexual, brick red, in rusty puberulous, terminal spicate panicles. Male flowers: 4.5 mm across; tepals 4, lanceolate, stamens many. Female flowers: 4 mm across, tepals 3 or 4, thicker than in males, ovate-lanceolate; ovary with red glands, superior, 3-celled, ovules one in each cell; styles 3, to 3.5 mm long, papillose. Fruit a capsule, 7-8 mm across, globose, 3-lobed, loculicidally 3 valved, densely red-glandular, pubescent; seeds 1-4, globose, glabrous, black.