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Carallia
brachiata (Lour.) Merr.
Synonym : Diatoma brachiata Lour.
Family
: Rhizophoraceae
Local Names
: Vallabham, Fresh water
mangrove
Flowering
and fruiting period:
December – May
Distribution: Indo-Malesia and
Australia
Habitat: Semi-evergreen
forests, also in the plains
IUCN
status:
Data Deficient
Endemic: No
Uses: Timber yielding. The
juice from the macerated leaves is used in the treatment of fevers. The
pulverized bark is rubbed on the body in the treatment of smallpox. The leaves
and bark are used in local medicine to treat septic poisoning and itch
Key
Characters:
Carallia brachiata are evergreen trees; bark
is dark grey, corky, furrowed, Leaves simple, opposite, obovate , margin
entire, glabrous and glossy. Flowers bisexual, cream coloured, sessile, small,
in short, trichotomous axillary branching cymes, calyx tube campanulate,
valvate; petals reddish, inserted on a crenulate disc; stamens 10-16, inserted
with them on the disc; ovary half inferior; stigma 4-lobed. Fruit a drupe.
