Hydnocarpus pentandra
(Buch.-Ham.) Oken, Allg. Naturgesh. 3, 2: 1381. 1841. Chilmoria pentandra Buch.-Ham. in Trans. Linn. Soc., Lond.13: 501.1822. H. wightiana Blume in Rumphia 4: 22. 1848; Hook. f. & Thomson in Fl. Brit. India 1: 197. 1872. Munnicksia laurifolia Dennst., Schluess. Hort. Ind. Mal. 27. 1818, nom. invald. H. laurifolia (Dennst.) Sleumer in Engler, Bot. Jahrb. 69: 33. 1938, nom. invalid.; Rama-moorthy in Fl. Hassan Dist. 164. 1976.
Kan.: Chaulmoogra, Suranti, Surti, Toratti, Yenna-mara; Kon.: Kavanthi; Mal:
Kodi, Koti, Maravetti, Marotti, Niralam, Nirvetti, Tamona, Vetti; Mar.: Kadu-kavata,
Kantel, Kastel, Keti, Kobased, Kowti; Sans.: Garudaphala, Tuvrak; Tam.: Maravattai,
Maravetti, Niradi-mattu; Tel.: Adi-badam, Niradi.
Trees, evergreen,5 - 25 m tall; trunk often fluted; bark brownish, rough; young parts brown pubescent. Leaves variable, ovate-elliptic, elliptic-oblong, oblong to oblanceolate, rarely ovate to ovate-lanceolate, cuneate or obtuse at base, obtusely short or long acuminate at apex, subserrate, 5 - 25 x 3.5 - 10 cm, dark green and shiny above, paler beneath, minutely appressed pubescent along midrib and veins above when young, at length g1abrate, minutely appressed puberulous beneath, sparsely so with age; secondary Veins 5 - 8 pairs; petioles 7 - 15 mm long, ferruginous pubescent; stipules linear, puberulous, caducous. Male flowers ca 6 mm across, greenish, 3 - 6 each in 2 - 3 racemose faacicles atop a densely ferruginous tomentose peduncle, up to 1 cm long (sometimes thyrsoidly branched at base); pedicels ca 7 mm long, ferruginous tomentose. Sepals unequal, longest; outer ones broadly ovate to elliptic-orbicular; inner ones suborbicular, ca 2.5 mm across, densely appressed rusty puberulous outside, glabrous inside. Petals ovate to suborbicular, concave, ciliate along margins, smaller than sepals; epipetalous scales almost equal to petals. Stamens 5, ca 2 mm long at anthesis; anthers reniform and filaments filiform at first, at length anthers didymous and filaments thickened and gradually dilated towards hairy base. Ovary rudimentary, densely pilose. Female flowers ca 1 cm across, solitary or binate atop a common ca 8 mm long peduncle. Staminodes 5. Ovary ovoid, obscurely 5-ribbed, beaked at apex, densely yellowish pilose; stigmas 5-lobed. Berries globose or obovoid, protruded at apex, 5 - 10 cm across; pericarp reddish brown, scurfy, tomentose. Seeds 15 - 20, embedded in pulp, ovoid-oblong, tusely angular, longitudinally striated, 1.7 - 2.2 x 1 - 1.5 cm.
Fl. Feb. - June (Sept.); fruiting afterwards.
Distrib. India: Moist deciduous and semievergreen forests of Western Ghats up to 850 m, often near water courses. Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala; elsewhere cultivated.
Endemic.
Notes. Timber used for building purposes. Seeds yield a yellow oil used for burning lamps and in medicine for leprosy, arthritis and swellings. Fruits are used as fish poison.
Since mere reference to an earlier description or diagnosis do not conform with the provision of a combined generico-specific description, the genus Munnicksia as well as the species M. laurifolia Dennst. (1818) is not considered as validly published.
Trees, evergreen,5 - 25 m tall; trunk often fluted; bark brownish, rough; young parts brown pubescent. Leaves variable, ovate-elliptic, elliptic-oblong, oblong to oblanceolate, rarely ovate to ovate-lanceolate, cuneate or obtuse at base, obtusely short or long acuminate at apex, subserrate, 5 - 25 x 3.5 - 10 cm, dark green and shiny above, paler beneath, minutely appressed pubescent along midrib and veins above when young, at length g1abrate, minutely appressed puberulous beneath, sparsely so with age; secondary Veins 5 - 8 pairs; petioles 7 - 15 mm long, ferruginous pubescent; stipules linear, puberulous, caducous. Male flowers ca 6 mm across, greenish, 3 - 6 each in 2 - 3 racemose faacicles atop a densely ferruginous tomentose peduncle, up to 1 cm long (sometimes thyrsoidly branched at base); pedicels ca 7 mm long, ferruginous tomentose. Sepals unequal, longest; outer ones broadly ovate to elliptic-orbicular; inner ones suborbicular, ca 2.5 mm across, densely appressed rusty puberulous outside, glabrous inside. Petals ovate to suborbicular, concave, ciliate along margins, smaller than sepals; epipetalous scales almost equal to petals. Stamens 5, ca 2 mm long at anthesis; anthers reniform and filaments filiform at first, at length anthers didymous and filaments thickened and gradually dilated towards hairy base. Ovary rudimentary, densely pilose. Female flowers ca 1 cm across, solitary or binate atop a common ca 8 mm long peduncle. Staminodes 5. Ovary ovoid, obscurely 5-ribbed, beaked at apex, densely yellowish pilose; stigmas 5-lobed. Berries globose or obovoid, protruded at apex, 5 - 10 cm across; pericarp reddish brown, scurfy, tomentose. Seeds 15 - 20, embedded in pulp, ovoid-oblong, tusely angular, longitudinally striated, 1.7 - 2.2 x 1 - 1.5 cm.
Fl. Feb. - June (Sept.); fruiting afterwards.
Distrib. India: Moist deciduous and semievergreen forests of Western Ghats up to 850 m, often near water courses. Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala; elsewhere cultivated.
Endemic.
Notes. Timber used for building purposes. Seeds yield a yellow oil used for burning lamps and in medicine for leprosy, arthritis and swellings. Fruits are used as fish poison.
Since mere reference to an earlier description or diagnosis do not conform with the provision of a combined generico-specific description, the genus Munnicksia as well as the species M. laurifolia Dennst. (1818) is not considered as validly published.
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