Dilip Walse Patil

Scientific Name : Sterculia foetida L.

Category : Angiosperms

Status : Alive

Habit : A large tree. Stem : Erect, branched, cylindrical and solid with dark white, whorled, horizontal branches. Leaves : Compound digitate, leaflets elliptic lanceolate, stipules, caducous. Inflorescence : Racemose panicles. Flowers : Dull red, foetid, having foul smell which attracts flies for pollination. Calyx tubular, deply 5-cleft. Petals absent. Male flowers are produced in great profusion and drop off. Staminal column curved, hairy at base and with 10-15 anthers. Corolline cup irregularly toothed, within the cup are 5 rudimentary carpels. Female flowers are few and are found at the ends of the racemes, ovary of 5 hairy carpels on a stout gynophore, with a ring of staminodes, style hairy bent. Fruit : Etaerio of 1-5 woody, scarlet, large, boat-shaped follicles. Seeds : Many, black, smooth, exalbuminous, with a small, yellow caruncle at the base. Flowering and Fruiting time :March-May. Significance : Cultivated in the gardens. The fruits possess sweet oily edible pulp. The seeds are eaten raw or roasted but if consumed in large quantities, they cause dysentery. The tree exudes a gum resembling tragacanth which is used for book binding and similar work.