Digital Garden

Ochna integerrima (Lour.) Merr.

മിക്കി മൗസ് പ്ലാൻറ്

Family : OCHNACEAE

Synonym :

Elaeocarpus integerrimus Lour.

Common Names : Mickey Mouse plant

Flowering Period : Throughout the year

Distribution : Native of South East Asia

Habitat : Grown as garden plant

Uses : Fruit edible as raw. The pulp is eaten. The bitter-tasting bark is a digestive tonic. It is also used to treat sore throats. The root is used as a cathartic for treating worms and as a medicine for treating lymphatic disorders. The wood is used in the construction of traditional huts.

Key Characters :

Large shrub to small trees; branches slender, annular at tip, crown pyramidal; bark dark brown, rough, warty. Leaves alternate, 6- 15 x 2-5 cm, oblanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, acute or obtuse, base acute, cuneate; glabrous, finely cuspidate, serrate, nerves raised on both surfaces. Flowers 3.5-4 cm across, yellow. Sepals brown without, 1-1.5 cm long, oblong, deflexed in fruit. Petals 1-2 cm long, bright yellow, obovate, clawed. Stamens yellow, up to 1.5 cm long; anthers equaling or slightly longer than filaments; styles longer than stamens. Drupelets 3-5, blackish- purple