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Salix tetrasperma Roxb.

Synonym	:	Salix amygdaloides Andersson
Family	:	SALICACEAE
Local name	:	Malayalam- Vanchi
Flowering and fruiting period	:	July-December
Distribution	:	Indo-Malesia and South China
Distribution in kerala	:	Palakkad, Idukki, Kannur, Wayanad
Habitat	:	Along riverbanks in semi-evergreen forests
Uses	:	plant is used to treat ailments such as diabetes, fever, piles, epilepsy, rheumatism, swellings, stones in bladder, wound, ear pain, dysentery, cough and cold..
Key botanical characters: laze red; young branches silky pubescent. Leaves simple, alternate; stipules lateral, ovate, cauducous; petiole 10-25 mm, slender, glabrous, grooved above; lamina 6-15 x 2-5 cm, ovate, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate; base acute or rounded; apex acuminate; margin serrate, glabrous and shining above, glaucous beneath, coriaceous; lateral nerves 10-18 pairs, pinnate, close, prominent, intercostae reticulate, faint. Flowers unisexual, in axillary catkins, to 6 cm long, minutely silky villous; male yellowish; female greenish; bracts ovate, 2 x 2 mm, densely woolly; perianth absent; stamens 5-12, unequal, free, with 2 glands at the base; anthers basifixed; disc yellow, ovary stalked, superior, 1-celled, ovoid, 4-6 ovuled; stigma 2, branched again. Fruit a capsule, 4 mm, 2-4 valved; seeds 1-4, oblong, with long deciduous hairs.