492

Lagerstroemia microcarpa Wight

Synonym	:	Lagerstroemia lanceolata Wall. ex C.B.Clarke
Family	:	Lythraceae
Local name	:	Malayalam - Vellilavu, Venthekku
Flowering and fruiting period	:	June-February
Distribution	:	Western Ghats
Distribution in Kerala	:	All Districts
Habitat	:	Moist deciduous forests, also in the plains
Endemic/Exotic	:	Western Ghats
Uses	:	Bark is stimulant, febrifuge and used in stomach ache. Bark, leaf and flowers are purgative and hydragogue. Root is astringent and used as gargle. Seed is narcotic.
Key Botanical Characters: Deciduous trees, to 30 m high, bark 6-8 mm thick, greyish or greyish-white. Leaves simple, opposite, distichous, elliptic, ovate, elliptic-lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, apex acute or acuminate, base attenuate or acute, margin entire, glabrous and shining above, velvety pubescent beneath. Flowers bisexual, white, in axillary and terminal panicles. Calyx smooth, hoary, without a ring; lobes 6, triangular, persistent, reflexed. Petals 6, obovate, white, clawed. Stamens numerous, inserted at the base of calyx tube; filaments long, exserted. Ovary half inferior, sessile, glabrous, 4-6-celled, ovules many; style long, curved; stigma capitate. Fruit a capsule, ovoid, 4-6 valved; seeds many.