1389

Dendrocnide sinuata (Bl.) Chew

Synonym	:	Laportea gigantea Gaud.
Family	:	Urticaceae
Local name	:	English- Elephant Fever Nettle Malayalam- Anamayakki
Flowering and fruiting period	:	Flowering :August - October.  Fruit ripen: cold season
Distribution	:	Peninsular India and Sri Lanka
Distribution in Kerala	:	Palakkad, Idukki, Pathanamthitta, Kannur, Thiruvananthapuram, Malappuram, Kollam, Thrissur, Wayanad, Kozhikkode
Habitat	:	A weedy species, colonizing gaps in the forest, locally frequent along roads and tracks, and is commonly found in relatively dry forest on sandy soils; at elevations from sea-level up to 1,400 metres
Uses		The leaves are applied externally as a treatment against scabies. The plant is claimed to be used as an oral contraceptive The sap is occasionally used as a hair wash
Key botanical characters: Large shrubs to small trees; branchlets terete, white, covered with soft stinging hairs. Leaves to 20 x 10 cm, elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, acute at either ends, entire or crenate, lateral nerves 9 pairs; petiole to 6 cm long. Inflorescence axillary, peduncled cymes, branches dichotomous, to 20 x 20 cm. Flowers monoecious or dioecious; male perianth lobes 4 or 5, ovate, cupular; female perianth lobes 4, ovate, free, pubescent; stamens 4, free; pistillodeclavate; ovary 1-celled, ovules solitary; style 4 mm long, puberulus, persistent. Achenes 6 mm, ovoid, white, glabrous