Systematic Classification:
Division : Angiospermae
Class : Dicotyledons
Family : Sapotaceae
Genus : Madhuca
Species : bourdilloniiCommon Name:
Ponavu, Thandidiyan
General Information:
Trees grow up to 30 m high, bark 6-8 mm thick, surface greyish-brown, shallowly fissured; blaze pink-red; latex milky white; younger branches fulvous tomentose. Leaves simple, alternate, crowded at the tip of branchlets, estipulate; petiole 15-45 mm, slender, pubescent, swollen at base; lamina 15-30 x 6.5-7.5, linear-elliptic, oblanceolate or spathulate, base cuneate, apex acute or shortly obtusely acuminate, margin entire, fulvous tomentose when young, becoming glabrous above and glabrescent below, except the midrib, coriaceous; lateral nerves 20-25 pairs, parallel, nearly right angles to midrib, slender; intercostae reticulate, faint. Flowers bisexual, yellowish-white, 1.7 cm long, in axillary fascicles, appear along with new flush; peduncles 2.5-3.8 cm; pedicels 1.5-2 cm long, densely brown tomentose; calyx lobes 4, ovate, outer 0.7 x 0.6 cm, brown tomentose; corolla campanulate, tube broad, 12-lobed; stamens 24, in two whorls; filaments short; anthers 3.5 mm long, glabrous, ovate, connective appendage 1 mm long; ovary ovoid, glabrous, 11 or 12-celled, superior; style subulate, elongate. Fruit a berry, green, smooth, ovoid, 3.7 cm across; seeds 4-5, ellipsoid.
Economic Importance:
- It is used as Timber.