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                                           Barringtonia acutangula (L.) Gaertn.

Synonym	:	Barringtonia acutangula subsp. Acutangula
Family	:	Lecythidaceae
Local name	:	Malayalam- Neerpezhu
Flowering and fruiting period	:	March-May
Distribution	:	Indo-Malesia to Australia
Distribution in kerala	:	All Districts
Habitat	:	Along riverbanks and water courses
Key Botanical Characters: Evergreen trees, to 15 m high, bark  thick, surface dark brown, rough, rich in tannin; blaze yellow; . Leaves simple, alternate, clustered towards the tip of branchlets; stipules lateral, cauducous;  ; lateral nerves 8-12 pairs, pinnate, slender, prominent, intercostae reticulate, slender, prominent. Flowers bisexual,  red, in terminal pendulous racemes;  calyx tube campanulate, adnate to the ovary; lobes 4, ovate, acute, imbricate; petals 4, ovate, obtuse, imbricate, basally connate, adnate to the staminal tube; stamens many, in several rows; filaments exserted, filiform,  long, pink, connate below; ovary inferior, 2-celled, ovules 6-8 in each cell;  Fruit a fibrous berry, long, oblong-ovoid, bluntly quadrangular; seed one, ovoid