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Baccaurea courtallensis (Wight) Muell.-Arg.
Synonym : Pierardia courtallensis
Wight, Baccaurea sapida Bedd.
Family
: Euphorbiaceae
Local Names
: Mootikaya, Mootilpazham,
Mootippuli, Mootilthoori
Flowering
and fruiting period:
January – June
Distribution: Peninsular India
Habitat: Evergreen and
semi-evergreen forests
IUCN
status:
Data Deficient
Endemic: Yes
Uses: Fruits edible,
anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial.
Key
Characters: Evergreen trees to 15 m high; bark greyish-yellow. Leaves
simple, alternate, margin entire. Flowers unisexual, dark crimson, in densely
clustered slender racemes on mature stem. Male flowers: bracts lanceolate;
tepals 4-5, linear, oblong, elliptic; stamens 4-8, free; anthers basifixed.
Female flowers: bracts lanceolate; tepals 4-5, linear, oblong; ovary superior,
ovoid, 3-locular; stigmas 3. Fruit a capsule, ovoid, pink-red when ripe, brown
when dry.
