Calophyllum apetalum
Calophyllum apetalum Willd. 
(CLUSIACEAE)
Common names                    
Sanskrit: Jothishmathi.
Kannada: Holehone, Surahonne.
Tamil: Siru pinnai.
Malayalam: Cherupinna.
 
Description: Trees, up to 30 m  tall; bole cylindrical; bark yellowish, very thick and characteristic with boat-shaped furrows and lenticels; exudate white or yellowish. Leaves opposite, ovate, obovate or oblong to elliptic, 5-20x2.5-5 cm, truncate to rounded to rarely acute to cuneate at base, obtuse-retuse or emarginated at apex, glabrous; venation close, veins most prominent on lower surface; petioles deeply canaliculated above.  Flowers small, in 5-13- flowered, 4-7 cm long axillary racemes, bisexual, white. Sepals 4 (rarely 3), prominently veined, biseriate, 2 outer broadly ovate to orbicular, two inner boat-shaped, elliptic to obovate, white, petaloid. Petals absent, rarely 3, 4 or 5, small, caducous. Stamens numerous (40 - 85), many seriate; anthers rounded or mucronulate at apex.  Fruit a drupe, ovoid or ellipsoid, 1-2 x 1 cm, smooth, red when ripe, drying greyish-green.  Seed solitary, ovoid to ellipsoid, 7.5-13 x 5 - 7 mm, smooth.
Flowering & Fruiting: September - May.
 
Distribution: Common along the banks of rivers and streams in evergreen forests and backwaters along west coast at low elevations up to 600 m (1300 m). Maharashtra, Karnataka Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic.  A threatened species.
Uses: Ripe fruits are sweet and eaten locally. Seed oil greenish yellow with a characteristic odour, used as fuel for lamps.  Wood pale reddish white or pale reddish brown with darker streaks, used for construction, bridges, boats, oil-mills, cabinet work, building purposes and also for making matchboxes. Resin used as a vulnerary, resolutive and anodyne; seed oil is used for treating rheumatism and leprosy.

 

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