Chandigarh Forests
Department of Forest & Wildlife
UT Administration
Chandigarh
Department of Forest & Wildlife
|
Division
|
Angiosperms |
|
Class
|
Dicotledons |
|
Subclass |
Polypetalae |
|
Series |
Thalamiflorae |
|
Order |
Perietales |
|
Family
|
Flacourtiaceae |
|
Genus
|
Casearia |
|
Species
|
elliptica |
|
Etymology: |
In the honour of Johannes Casearius (1642-1678) a Church Minister of Dutch East India Co., at Cochin. |
|
Botanical name:
|
Casearia elliptica Willd. ( C. tomentosa Roxb.) |
|
Local/Trade Names: |
Chilla |
|
Conservation status: |
Commonly found wild. |
|
Digonestic features:
|
Leaves tomentose; fruit 3-valved.
|
|
Description: |
Small deciduous tree. Bark light grey to dark brown. Leaves 7.5-17.5 x 3-7 cm, elliptic-oblong or lanceolate, tomentose. Flowers small, greenish-yellow, numerous, fascicled in axils of leaves. Fruit 1.5-2 cm long, 3-valved, obovoid, fleshy, yellow when ripe. Seeds embedded in a red pulp. |
|
Phenology: |
Fls.: Mar. – May. Frts.: June – July. |
|
Distribution: |
Sub-Himalayan tracts. |
|
Where to see it: |
Medicinal Plant Garden. |
|
Uses: |
Bark used in tanning (tannin 11%); wood for combs, powered bark applied in dropsy; fruits diuretic also used as a fish-poison. |
