Dillenia pentagyna Roxb. (DILLENIACEAE)
Common names
Kannada: Kadukanigala, Muchiru.
Malayalam: Kodapunna, Naithekku.
Description: Deciduous trees, up to 15 m tall. Leaves crowded at the ends of branchlets, alternate, oblong-lanceolate or oblong-obovate, 15-50 x 7-21 cm, obtuse or cuneate at base, obtuse at apex, nearly entire to dentate along margins; lateral nerves 25-50 pairs, parallel, pubescent; petioles 1.5 – 5 cm long, with persistent wing-like stipules. Flowers 2-7, small, fascicled or unbellate on short leafless shoots, yellow, fragrant. Sepals 5, ovate, brown, accrescent. Petals 5, obovate, up to 2 cm long. Stamens in 2 series; outer series with 60-90 stamens; inner series with up to 10 stamens. Carpels 5(-6) arranged on narrow conical receptacle, oblong-lanceolate unilocular. The hanging fruits are somewhat round, measuring 15 by 13 millimeters, not splitting open, with a fleshy texture, and can be yellow, orange, or red. Each contains 1-2 ovoid seeds, approximately 5 by 3.5 millimeters in size, black, and lacking an aril.
Flowering: January – May.
Fruiting: March – June.
Distribution: India: Throughout, including Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Myanmar,China, Vietnam, Thailand, Celebes, Java and Lesser Sunda Islands.
Uses: Root, leaf, flower, fruit and seed are used in leucorrhoea, cough, anuresis, diarrhoea, dysentery, indigestion, and intermittent fever in the Siddha system of medicine.