Artocarpus hirsutus Lam. (MORACEAE)
Common names
Kannada: Hebbalasu.
Tulu: Peja.
Tamil: Kattuppala, Aiyinipala.
Malayalam: Ayani, Anjili, Ayini plavu.
Telugu: Adavi pana.
Sanskrit: Lakucah
Description: Evergreen trees, up to 40 m tall. Leaves alternate, broadly elliptic-ovate, up to 18 x 12 cm, rounded at base, acuminate at apex. Flowers monoecious, on axillary pedunculate receptacles; the male receptacles narrowly cylindric, up to 15 x 1 cm; the female receptacles ca 15 x 9 cm. Perianth lobes 2, shortly connate below in male flowers; in female tubular. Stamen 1. The fruit is a syncarp, cylindrical to ellipsoidal, measuring about 15 x 10 cm, covered in long, spiny processes, and turns orange when ripe. The seeds are ovoid, reaching up to 1.8 cm in length.
Flowering & Fruiting: January – May
Distribution: India: In moist deciduous to semi-evergreen forests. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic to South W. India. A threatened species.
Uses: Fruits are edible. Wood yellowish brown, moderately hard, durable, seasons and polishes well, does not wrap or crack, not eaten by white ants, valuable for construction work (beams, rafters, door and window frames), panelling, flooring, furniture, cooperage, agricultural implements and boat building. It can also be used for tea boxes. Infusion of bark applied to cure pimples and cracks on the skin. Powdered bark used to heal sores; dry leaves useful in treating buboes and hydrocele; unripe fruit astringent, ripe fruit appetiser, cooling, aphrodisiac, useful in vitiated condition of vata and pitta, and anorexia.