Terminalia bellirica (Gaertn.) Roxb.

താന്നി

Family : COMBRETACEAE

Synonym : Myrobalanus bellirica Gaertn.

Common Names : Thanni, Thannikka, Tusham, Bibhitak, Bedda nut tree, Belliric myrobalan

Flowering Period : December – January

Distribution : Indo-Malaysia

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

Uses : In traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine, Baheda is known as ‘Bibhitaki’ in its fruit form it is used in the popular Indian herbal rasayana treatment triphala. This species is used by some tribes in the Indian subcontinent for its mind-altering qualities - they smoke dried kernels. Too much of this can cause nausea and vomiting.

Key Characters :

Deciduous trees, to 35 m high; bark surface blackish-grey, smooth. Leaves simple, opposite or alternate, clustered at the tip of branchlets, obovate, margin entire. Flowers bisexual, greenish-yellow, in axillary spikes. Calyx tube lobes 5, cream, triangular. Petals absent. Ovary  inferior, 1-celled; ovules 2 or 3, pendulous; stigma small. Fruit a drupe, obovoid, yellowish-brown; seed one, ellipsoid.