Madhuca longifolia (Koenig) Macbr. var. latifolia (Roxb.) A. Chev.

ഇലുപ

Family : SAPOTACEAE

Synonym :

Madhuca latifolia (Roxb.) J.F. Macbr.

Common Names : Ilupa, Irippa, Njannal

Flowering Period : December-July

Distribution : India and Myanmar

Habitat : Banks of rivers in semi-evergreen forests

Uses : The Mahua tree, M. latifolia is an economically important tropical deciduous tree. The oil obtained from the seeds is used for making soap products and seed cakes are used as fertilizer. Mahua flowers are used to brew alcohol and the whole tree is considered to possess medicinal properties.

Key Characters :

Trees, to 20 m high, bark grey, 1.3 cm thick, vertically cracked, exfoliating in thin scales; blaze reddish-brown or dark red; exudation milky. Leaves simple, alternate, clustered at the end of branchlets; stipules lateral, lanceolate, cauducous; petiole 20-40 mm long, stout, glabrous; lamina 10-25 × 6-12 cm, elliptic, base round, obtuse or cuneate, apex acute, acuminate or apiculate, margin entire, glabrous, coriaceous; lateral nerves 9-14 pairs, parallel, prominent, intercostae reticulate, faint. Flowers bisexual, creamy, axillary; calyx lobes 4 [ 2 +2], obovate, fulvous tomentose, acute; corolla tube 8 mm long, lobes 6-12, oblong; stamens 16, roughly in 3 series; anthers 3.5 mm, sparsely hairy; connectives apiculate; ovary superior, 3 mm long, 6-celled; style 2.5 cm long, exserted, pubescent below; stigma obtuse. Fruit a berry, ovoid, greenish, fleshy, tawny-tomentose with out; pedicel stout; seeds 2.