Ardisia solanacea (Poir.) Roxb.

കുഴിമുണ്ടൻ

Family : Myrsinaceae

Synonym : Anguillaria solanacea (Roxb.) Poir

Common Names : Kuzhimundan, Molakka

Flowering Period : March-August

Distribution : E. Asia - southern China, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Malaysia.

Habitat : Moist ravines and forests. Mixed forests, shrubby areas, mountains or hillsides at elevations of 400 - 1,600 metres.

Uses : Leaves are edible as raw or cooked. Ripe fruits are eaten as fresh. In India the roots are used against fever, dropsy, diarrhoea and rheumatism, the bark to treat concussion or bruises. The berries contain a pinkish juice, and provide a yellow dye which becomes brown on paper. A. solanacea is also planted as an ornamental.

Key Characters :

Trees, to 6 m high; bark brown, smooth. Leaves simple, alternate, 10-18 x 4-6 cm, obovate, elliptic-obovate or oblanceolate, apex acuminate or acute, base cuneate, margin entire or obscurely crenate, glabrous, glaucous beneath, coriaceous, gland-dotted; petiole to 10 mm long, stout, glabrous; lateral nerves 9-20 pairs, parallel, slender, obscure, secondary laterals faint, intercostae obscure. Flowers bisexual, 1.3 cm across, bright pink, in axillary or lateral umbels; peduncle 5-(12) cm long; bracts 1.5-2 mm long, concave, deciduous. Calyx lobes 5, 3 x 1.5 mm, concave, ovate, obtuse, ciliate, persistent, leathery, twisted to right. Corolla 2.5 cm across; lobes 5, twisted to right, in bud, 10 x 7 mm, ovate, coriaceous, punctuate. Stamens 5, connivent around style, exserted; filaments short; anthers sagitate, 7 mm. Ovary superior, globose 3 x 2 mm, 1-celled; ovules many; style elongate, as long as the corolla lobes; stigma terminal. Fruit a berry 8 mm across, globose, bright red.