Flacourtia montana Graham (FLACOURTIACEAE)
Common names
Kannada: Gajale, Hennu sampige, Nayibela.
Tulu: Tabluka.
Malayalam: Chalirin-pazham, Charal-maram.
Description: Towering up to 20 meters, these trees are frequently armed and dioecious. The leaves are broadly elliptic, oblong-elliptic, or ovate-lanceolate, measuring 7-6 x 4-7 cm, typically tapering at the base, and featuring an acute or acuminate apex with crenate margins. Flowers unisexual, in lax racemes or dense paniculate clusters, up to 2 cm long, creamy white. Sepals 4, minute, ovate. Petals 0. Male flowers: Stamens numerous. Female flowers: Ovary urceolate, sometimes surrounded by a few staminodes at base; styles 5(-6), bifid at apex. Berries globose, ca 1.7 cm across, obtusely ribbed, scarlet when ripe, fleshy. Seeds 6, in 2 rows, compressed, hard.
Flowering & Fruiting: November – April.
Distribution: India: In semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forests of Western Ghats, up to 1000 m (1800 m). Maharshtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic.
Uses: Fruits are pleasantly acrid, eaten raw or made into jelly. Wood is heavy and is used for building purposes.