Digital Garden

Tabernaemontana alternifolia L.

കുന്നിൻപാല

Family : APOCYNACEAE

Synonym : Ervatamia heyneana (Wall.) Cooke

Common Names : Kundalappala, Kunninpala, Kuruttupala, Koonampala

Flowering Period : April-October

Distribution : Southern Western Ghats

Habitat : Moist deciduous forests, also in sacred groves

Uses : Folk Indian medicine refers to the use of leaf and stem bark powder in treatment of skin infections.

Key Characters :

Small trees, to 8 m high; bark corky with shallow fissures, latex milky. Leaves simple, opposite, 13-18 x 4-7 cm, elliptic-oblong, apex acuminate, base acute, lateral nerves 12-15 pairs, intercostae reticulate; petiole 2 cm long. Cymes terminal or axillary; peduncles to 4 cm long. Flowers pedicellate. Calyx 4 mm long, lobes short, oblong, obtuse. Corolla white, tube cylindric, 25 mm long, dialated at mouth, villous inside; lobes 15 mm long, oblong, obtuse, apex crisped. Stamens included; anthers sagitate at base, linear. Carpels distinct. Follicles yellow, 5 x 1.5 cm, beak acuminate; aril red.