Dilip Walse Patil

Scientific Name : Oroxylum indicum (L.) Kurz

Category : Angiosperms

Status : Alive

Habit : A small tree with green juice. Leaves : 3-5 feet long, bi or tripinnate, pinnae opposite, leaflets 2-4 pairs, ovate or elliptic, acuminate, cordate. Flowers : Foetid, in large erect racemes, 1-2 feet long. Calyx campanulate, corolla whitish or bright-purple, bell-shaped, fleshy, lobes 5, margins crisped. Stamens 5, exserted, 1 shorter than other 4, filaments hairy at base. Ovary superior, 2-celled, ovules many, style long, stigma bilobed. Fruit : Capsules 2-valved, 2-3 feet long, sword-like, flat. Seeds many, flat and winged, thin with silvery wings. Flowering and Fruiting Time : May - August Significance : The tree is often grown as an ornamental for its strange appearance. The seed is used in the traditional Indian ayurvedic medicine. The root bark is used, administered as astringent, bitter tonic, stomachic and useful in diarrhea and dysentery. The paste made of the bark powder is applied to cure diseases such as mouth cancer, scabies and other skin diseases in certain part of the world. People also apply the paste in the neck and throat area for quick relief of tonsil pain. It is also applied on the wounds of animals to kill maggots.