486

Mangifera indica L.

Synonym	:	Mangifera austroyunnanensis Hu
Family	:	Anacardiaceae
Local name	:	English - Mango tree, Cuckoo's joy Malayalam - Manga, Mampazham
Flowering and fruiting period	:	January-May
Distribution	:	Indo-Malesia
Distribution in Kerala	:	All Districts
Habitat	:	Evergreen and semi-evergreen, widely  cultivated
Uses	:	The plant parts are used to treat dysentery, diarrhoea, asthma, cough, toothache, bronchitis, hypertension, insomnia, anaemia, rheumatism, haemorrhage, piles and leucorrhoea.
Key Botanical Characters :  Evergreen trees, to 30 m high, bark 2-2.5 cm, dark grey, rough with vertical fissures; exudation yellowish, gummy. Leaves simple, alternate, clustered at the tips of branchlets, elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate, linear-oblong, apex acuminate. Flowers polygamous, yellowish-green, in terminal panicles; pedicels jointed; bract deciduous. Calyx 4-5 partite, ovate, imbricate, hairy without, cauducous. Petals 4-5, oblong-obovate, subequal, nerves at base gland crested, free or adnate to the disc; disc fleshy, copular. Stamens 4-5, fertile stamens 1 or 2. Ovary sessile, superior. Fruit a drupe, 5-15 cm long, oblong-reniform, compressed, yellowish-red, mesocarp fleshy, endocarp fibrous; seed subreniform.