Fagraea ceilanica Thunb.

വെള്ളരിമോദകം

Family : LOGANIACEAE

Synonym :

Fagraea malabarica Wight

Common Names : Kompal, Modakam, Modakakkodi, Marunthankamaram, Omal, Vallerei, Vellarimodakam, Lau binh, Gia, Perfume Flower Tree, Pua Keni Keni, Trai Tichlan

Flowering Period : March-November

Distribution : Indo-Malesia

Habitat : Moist deciduous, evergreen, semi-evergreen and shola forests, also in sacred groves

Uses : The latex found under the skin of the fruits is often used as an adhesive. The tree is occasionally harvested for its wood in New Guinea.

Key Characters :

Small trees, usually epiphytic on tree trunks; branchlets stout with prominent leaf-scars. Leaves simple, opposite, 10-18 x 5-8 cm, obovate or oblanceolate, base cuneate, margin entire, apex obtuse, fleshy, shiny, glabrous; petiole to 2.5 cm long. Inflorescence terminal or axillary, few-flowered corymbose cymes. Flowers large, 6-8 cm across, creamy white. Calyx deeply 5-lobed; lobes ca 8 mm long, obovate, acute or obtuse. Corolla funnel-form; tube 4-5 cm long; lobes 5, broad, twisted to right. Stamens 5, adnate at base of corolla-tube. Ovary 2-celled; ovules many in each cell; stigma capitate. Berry 2-4 x 1.5-3 cm, ellipsoid, shiny; seeds many.