Dimocarpus longan Lour.

ചെമ്പുന്ന

Family : Sapindaceae

Synonym : Nephelium longana (Lam.) Camp.

Common Names : Chempunna, Malampoovathi, Longan tree

Flowering Period : March-August

Distribution : Indo-Malesia

Habitat : Evergreen and semi-evergreen forests

Uses : Fruit edible- raw or cooked. The flesh of the fruit is administered as a stomachic, febrifuge and vermifuge, and is regarded as an antidote for poison. A decoction of the dried flesh is taken as a tonic and treatment for insomnia and neurasthenic neurosis. In both North and South Vietnam, the ‘eye’ of the longan seed is pressed against a snakebite in the belief that it will absorb the venom. The seeds are administered to counteract heavy sweating and the pulverized kernel, which contains saponin, tannin and fat, serves as a styptic. The seeds and the rind are burnt for fuel. The wood is strong, tough, very hard, difficult to split, highly durable. It is used for posts, agricultural implements, furniture, construction etc.

Key Characters :

Evergreen trees, to 18 m, high, bark greyish or reddish-brown, smooth. Leaves paripinnate, alternate, elliptic-oblong, margin entire. Flowers polygamous, yellowish-white, in terminal and axillary brown tomentose panicles or racemes. Calyx cupular, tomentose; lobes 5 or 6. Petals 5 or 6, oblong. Stamens 8 or 10, inserted within the disc. Ovary superior, ovoid, 2 lobed; style simple; stigma bifid. Fruit a schizocarp, globose, reddish-brown, with round tubercles or sometimes nearly smooth; seed one, black, covered by fleshy aril.