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Dillenia
pentagyna Roxb.
Synonym
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Colbertia augusta
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Family
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Dilleniaceae
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Local name
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Malayalam- Punna
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Flowering and fruiting period
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February-June
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Distribution
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Indo-Malesia
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Distribution in Kerala
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Palakkad, Kottayam, Kasaragode,
Kollam, Idukki, Pathanamthitta, Malappuram, Kannur, Thiruvananthapuram,
Kozhikkode, Thrissur, Wayanad
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Habitat
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Deciduous forests
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Uses
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Root decoction is given to cure
body pain whereas, the bark powder is used to cure diabetes, diarrhoea and
dysentery. Leaf paste is applied on wounds and cures many other diseases. The
plant is most commonly used as traditional anticancer medicinal plant by the
Mizo tribe in Mizoram state, India.
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Key botanical characters:
Deciduous trees, to 25 m high,
bark 15-20 mm, thick, surface grey, molted with white, smooth; blaze pink-red;
branchlets stout, with prominent 'V' shaped leaf scars. Leaves simple,
alternate, spiral, clustered at the tip of branchlets, 15-60 x 10-25 cm,
obovate to oblong-lanceolate, scarious, apex obtuse, base acute or attenuate,
margin serrate, rarely entire, glabrous above, puberulent beneath; lateral
nerves many, parallel, prominent, intercostae scalariform, faint; estipulate;
petiole 15-60 mm long, sheathing, stout, glabrous, winged. Flowers bisexual,
fascicled on old branches, 2.5-3 cm across, yellow, fragrant; pedicels 2.5-6
cm long; bracts hairy. Sepals 5, 8-12 mm long, obovate or elliptic, glabrous,
accrescent. Petals 5, 10-20 x 7-12 mm, obovate, obtuse, bright yellow.
Stamens numerous, yellow in 2 series, outer series with 60-90 stamens, each
2.5-4 mm long, inner series with up to 10 stamens, each 6-9 mm long. Carpels
5-10, cohering at the axis, arranged on the narrow conical receptacle,
unilocular, ovules many; styles free, 4 mm long. Fruit an aggregate of
berries, drooping, subglobose, 15 x 13 mm, indehiscent, fleshy, yellow,
orange or red, subtended by persistent sepals; seeds numerous, 5 x 3.5 mm,
ovoid, black, glabrous, exarillate.
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