Trees, Plants & Grasses

Compiled by Jagat Narain Chaturvedi

S.No.

Common Name

Botanical Name

Hindi Name

Remarks

1.

Sal

Shorea Robusta

sal, sarai

Sal butter extracted from the seeds is used in chocolates and also as a cooking agent.

2.

Male Bamboo or Solid Bamboo

DENDROCALAMUS STRICTUS

BANS

Used for battens, ‘lathis’ building purposes, bows & arrows ,paper pulp, leaves as fodder.

3.

Butter or Wine Flower Tree

MUDHUCA INDICA

MAHUA

The scented, sweetish, fleshy flowers have an irresistible attraction for bears, deer and fruit and nectar eating birds.

4.

Red Silk Cotton Tree

BOMBAX CEIBA

SEMAR

The floss is used for stuffing pillows and is excellent for making surgical dressings. A brittle yellowish or mahogany-colored gum exudes from incisions in the trunk and finds use in folk medicine as a tonic and aphrodisiac and to treat diarrhea and dysentery. A decoction of the roots is supposed to be a stimulant and to help in the treatment of male impotence.

5.

Yellow Silk Cotton or Torchwood Tree

COCHLOSPERMUM RELIGIOSUM

GABDI, PILA SEMAR

It is highly resistant to drought and forest fires. The gum from the bark is used in book binding, for cosmetics and for thickening ice cream.

6.

Indian Frankincense Tree

BOSWELLIA SERRATA

SALAI

A fragrant, sticky sap issues from the trunk and is known in the trade as ‘Indian frankincense’ or ‘salai guggal’ . It is not as strong-smelling as the biblical frankincense which derives from somalin species of boswellia but Indian frankincense has been used for centuries in Ayurveda to treat osteoarthritis, fibrositis, asthma and as a general health support.

7.

Indian Ebony or Bidi Leaf Tree

DIOSPYROS MELANOXYLON

TENDU

The leaves are in great demand for rolling ‘beedis’ and are collected in government forests. Various medicinal uses are made of its roasted seeds, dried flowers and bark, which are believed to be effective for curing nervous disorders, palpitations, coughs as well as diseases of the skin, blood and urinary system.

8.

Banyan

FICUS BENGHALENSIS

BADH / BARGAD

The great Banyan of Kolkata has 1000 trunks. The canopy covers 4 acres , one of the largest in the world. The tree is worshipped by Hindus as the male consort of the peepal.

9.

Peepal, Bodhi or Bo Tree

FICUS RELIGIOSA

PIPAL

This is the bodhi tree under which lord Buddha sat and received enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. It is one of the most sacred trees of India. A tree in Sri Lanka is reported to be over 2200 years old.

10.

Indian Fig Tree

FICUS RECEMOSA

GULAR

Ficus racemosa is a species of plant in the family Moraceae. Popularly known as the cluster fig tree, Indian fig tree or goolar fig. Its leaves, bark, figs, latex and roots- find use in traditional systems of healing. A lotion made from the pulverized bark is believed to be good for treating wounds inflicted by tiger a tiger’s claws.

11.

White/Spotted Java or Grey Fig

FICUS VIRENS

PAKHAD

Ficus virens is a plant of the genus Ficus found in India, southeast Asia, through Malaysia and into Northern Australia. Its common name is white fig. The figs are greedily eaten by many different birds.

12.

Pakhri

FICUS CUPULATA

PAKHRI

The leaves do not seem to be browsed by goats or cattle.

13.

Rock/Crow Fig

FICUS ARNOTTIANA

PARAS PEEPAL

Peepli is easily mistaken for a peepal because of the shape and crinkly margins of its leaf, though it lacks the elongated ‘tail’.

14.

Indian Laurel or Chinese Banyan

FICUS MICROCARPA

GADASI/TILMAN

Tree is native in the range from China through Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, India. On school building of Bandhavgarh fort.

15.

Gum Karaya

STERCULIA URENS

KULLU

Sterculia is from sterculius, a God of Roman mythology, derived from stercus, dung. The Romans deified objects they disliked. Kullu is the source of gum karaya which is used in the pharmaceutical industry as a laxative and tablet binder, counting agent, obstetrical lubricant and a fixative for dentures. It also has uses in confectionary , ice cream making and the food industry as an emulsifier, stabilizer and thickener.

16.

Kamela or Monkey Face Tree

MALLOTUS PHILIPPINENSIS

SINDURI

Mallotus philippensis is a plant in the spurge family. It is known as the kamela tree or kumkum tree, due to the fruit covering, which produces a red dye. Kamela was used to obtain a deep, durable orange or flame-coloured dye for silk, oil from seeds has medicinal properties.

17.

Emblic Myrobalan

EMBLICA OFFICIANALIS

AMLA

The fruit is probably the richest known natural source of vitamin C. It is often eaten as a thirst quencher and made into pickles and preserves. Ayurveda relies on amla fruit to treat an amazing range of complaints, relating especially to gastrointestinal problems. along with other myrobalans, the fruit is constituent of triphala which is used to treat dysentery , biliousness, hemorrhoid's and an enlarged liver.

18.

Belliric Myrobalan

TERMINALIA BELLARICA

BAHEDA

Terminalia bellirica, known as “Bahera” or Beleric or bastard myrobalan, is a large deciduous tree common on plains and lower hills in Southeast Asia, Baheda kernels are prescribed for treating coughs, eye disease, leprosy, intestinal problems and a host of other complaints.

19.

Chebulic Myrobalan

TERMINALIA CHEBULA

HARRA

Fruit yields the most important tanning material of the subcontinent for dyeing leather, wool and cotton. Wood is durable and used in house building. The fruit is highly valued in traditional medicine and is used to treat cardiac disease, coughs, asthma, urinary and gastro-intestinal disorders.

20.

Arjun

TERMINALIA ARJUNA

KOHWA

Kahua trees are highly rated as medicinal ‘factories’ Their astringent bark in particular is rich in tannins, glycosides, flavonoids and minerals and is used in powdered form in the treatment of cardiovascular ailments including ischemic heart disease, angina and hypertension. It is also used to treat dysentery, venereal and urogenital complaints, earaches, asthma and disorders of the bile duct.

21.

Crocodile-Bark Tree or Indian Laurel

TERMINALIA TOMENTOSA

BARSAJA / SAJA

Its bark is used for tanning and has some medicinal properties. Tussar silkworms are reared on its leaves, resulting in a fair amount of damageto saaj trees by pollarding in India.

22.

Button or Axelwood Tree

ANOGEISSUS LATIFOLIA

DHAWA

Anogeissus latifolia is a species of small to medium-sized tree native to the India, Nepal, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. Its common names are axlewood, bakli, dhau, dhawa, dhawra, or dhaora.

23.

Desert Apple or Indian Jujube

ZIZIPHUS MAURITIANA

BER

Ziziphus jujuba, commonly called jujube, red date, Chinese date, Korean date, or Indian date is a species of Ziziphus in the buckthorn family. It is used primarily as a shade tree that also bears fruit.

24.

Makoi

ZIZIPHUS MAURITIANA

MAKOI

Ziziphus oenoplia, commonly known as the jackal jujube, small-fruited jujube or wild jujube, is a flowering plant with a broad distribution through tropical and subtropical Asia and Australasia.

25.

Ghothar

ZIZIPHUS XYLOPYRUS

KATBEL

Deer and Boar eat the fruits. the paste made from the mixture of tender shoots, pepper, tobacco, lime is applied to heal the wounds caused by tiger and leopard attacks. Bark is used to prepare medicines for gastric problem and to brew alcohol. Fruits edible. Wood preferred for fuel.

26.

Governor's Plum

FLACOURTIA INDICA

KAKAI

Flacourtia indica, known commonly as ramontchi, governor’s plum, batoko plum, Madagascar plum and Indian plum, kakai has lots of uses in folk medicine the leaves and root as an antidote to snakebite : the leaf – juice as a febrifuge and remedy for coughs, dysentery and diarrhoea.

27.

Kadam/Mundi

MITRAGYNA PARVIFLORA

MUNDI

Mitragyna parvifolia is a tree species found in Asia. It is native to India. Mitragyna species are used medicinally as well as for their fine timber throughout the areas they grow.

28.

Golden Apple

AEGLE MARMELOS

BAEL

The fruit is broken open by deer, pigs, monkeys and possibly bears which eat the pulp. In this way the seeds get dispersed. The sweet nutritious pulp is drunk as a sherbet. The fruit, leaf and root-bark have proven tonic, antibiotic, digestive and anti-inflammatory properties and are used in the treatment of snakebite , dysentery and other disease of the digestive system, heart, eye, skin and liver.

29.

Turmeric Wood or Yellow Teak

HALDINA CARDIFOLIA

HALDU

A very good timber for flooring and paneling. Excellent for bobbins and suitable for battery separators. In Ayurveda – the bark and roots are used in various ways to treat inflammations, ulcers, wounds and infections of the gastric tract.

30.

Tummy Wood/Wild Guava/Slow Match Tree

CAREA ARBOREA

KUMBHI

Careya arborea is a species of tree in the Lecythidaceae family, native to the Indian Subcontinent, Afghanistan, and Indochina. It is known as Kumbhi in Hindi, and Slow Match Tree in English.

31.

Indian Blackberry

SYZGIUM CUMINII

JAMUN

Jamun or Black plum is an important summer fruit, associated with many health and medicinal benefits. The black plum is known to relieve stomach pain, carminative, anti-scorbutic and diuretic. Black Plum vinegar is good to reduce enlargement of spleen, diarrhoea, and those have urine retention.

32.

Karhi/Safed Siris

ALBIZZIA PROCERA

KARHI

ALBIZIA PROCERA – a decoction of the bark is used in traditional medicine to treat rheumatism and stomach aches and is mixed with salt as a medicine given to buffaloes. There is recent interest in the anti-cancer properties of karhi leaves and bark.

33.

Kokko/Black Siris

ALBIZZIA LEBBECK

BANSA

Albizia is named after albizzi, an Italian naturalist; lebbeck, after a place in Egypt where it was much planted as an avenue tree.

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