Gardenia Latifolia
Family : Rubiaceae
Common Name : Mountain Gardenia
English Name : Mountain Gardenia
Hindi Name : Papda, papura, Papra
Telugu Name : Pedda bikki
Tree Characteristics :
Indian Boxwood is a small deciduous tree or large shrub, which is often growing on other small plants, which it eventually kills, the way Figs do. This gardening can be easily distinguished from the others by its large leaves. Bark is greenish-grey, peeling and leaving smooth, concave, rounded depressions. Oppositely arranged, or whorled leaves have very short stalks, and are oval to obovate, smooth, with a small hairy gland in the axils of the veins on the underside, 6-8 in long, by about 3 in broad. Flowers appear singly at the end of branches. Sepal cup is bell-shaped, segments or teeth very irregular. Flowers have salver-form, meaning starting from a narrow tube and suddenly flaring into a flat arrangement of petals. Flowers are white or pale lemon-yellow, orange when fading. Flowering: April-July. Fruiting: December- June.
Nursery Practice :
Data Deficient
Economic Uses :
Ø The fleshy, purplish-coloured pulp of the fruit is eaten by forest dwellers. The seeds and roots are used for folk medicine as herbal remedies for stomach ailments and fevers. The leaves used for flexible moulds to bake chapattis in, with their raised veins leaving a beautiful impress on the soft dough, especially in forest fringe village.
Ø Dikamali or cumbi gum, which is excreted on the stems and buds of the plant, is antispasmodic, expectorant, carminative and stimulant.
Ø It is used in the treatment of cutaneous diseases and to keep off flies and worms.
The resin contains a bitter substance and essential oils.
Ø Fruit-eating birds and herbivore animals consume the fruit in large quantity.
