Scientific Name: Canarium strictum Roxb.

Synonyms: Hydnocarpus laurifolia (Dennst.) Sleum.

Unique ID: 86

Systematic Position

Class: Dicotyledonae

Sub Class: Polypetalae                          

Series: Calyciflorae

Order: Passiflorales

Family: Samydaceae

Common Names

English – Chaulmugra

Malayalam – കോട്ടി

Tamil –  Neeradi-muthu, marotti

Description: Dioecious trees, to 25 m high, bole fluted; bark 4-5 mm thick, surface pale brown mottled with white patches, smooth, brittle; blaze creamy yellow; branchlets pubescent. Leaves simple, alternate; stipules small, lateral, cauducous; petiole 8-10 mm, stout, pubescent, grooved above; lamina 8-17 x 3-8 cm, elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate or elliptic-oblong, base acute, obtuse or round, apex acuminate, margin crenate, serrate or entire, glabrous, coriaceous, lateral nerves 6-8 pairs, pinnate, prominent, intercostae scalariform, prominent. Flowers unisexual, 5-10 mm across, greenish-yellow, solitary or in small fascicle; sepals 5, broadly ovate, pubescent; petals 5, broadly ovate, greenish-yellow, fringed with soft white hairs, with a scale at the base; scales half as long as petals, densely hairy; stamens 5-15; filaments subulate, hairy at the base; anthers of female flowers possess no pollen; ovary globose, 1-celled, tomentose; stigma sessile and two lobbed. Fruit a berry 5-7 cm across, globose, rind thick, brown, rough with uneven surface; seeds numerous, yellowish, obtusely angular. Flowering and fruiting: December-May

Habitat: SCommon understorey trees in wet evergreen forests and along streams, generally up to 1000 m sometimes extends up to 1700 m.

Distribution: Endemic to the Western Ghats- very common in South and Central Sahyadris.

Uses:  The oil extracted from the seeds is used in the treatment of leprosy. Folk medicine