Persea macrantha (Nees) Kosterm.

Persea macrantha (Nees) Kosterm.

Uncategorized

Systematic Classification:

Division   : Angiospermae 
Class      : Dicotyledons
Order      : Laurales 
Family     : Lauraceae
Genus      : Persea
Species    : macrantha

Common Name:

Kulamavu, Ooravu, Iruli, Kolamavu, Kolarmavu

General Information:

Persea macrantha is a evergreen tree, which attains height to 30 m high, bark 20-25 mm thick, surface pale brown, mottled with dark blotches, scurfy and thinly scaly, rough, exfoliations small, brittle; blaze pinkish; branchlets glabrous. Leaves simple, alternate, clustered at the tip of branchlets, estipulate; petiole 15-40 mm long, stout, grooved above, glabrous; lamina 6.5-20 x 3.7-10 cm, oblong, elliptic-oblong or ovate-oblong, base oblique or acute, apex obtuse or obtusely acute, margin entire, glabrous, glaucous beneath, coriaceous; lateral nerves 6-12 pairs, pinnate, prominent, intercostae reticulate, obscre.

Flowers bisexual, 10-12 mm across, pale yellow, in panicles from upper axils and terminal; perianth tube very short, tepals 6, subequal, in 2 series, 4-5 mm, obovate, puberulous; persistent, spreading or reflexed in fruit; stamens 9 perfect, those of first and second row opposite the perianth lobes, introrse, with long filaments, those of third row opposite the first row, extrorse with slender filaments and a pair of stipitate glands at their base, filaments pubescent 2.5 mm; anthers 4-celled; staminodes 3, in row 4 and opposite the row 2, 4 mm long, stalked, arrow shaped, pubescent; ovary half inferior, sessile, 1-celled; ovule 1, pendulous; style, slender, 2 mm; stigma discoid. Fruit a berry 15-18 mm across, globose, green with white specks, aromatic, with a basal persistent rim of perianth; lobes reflexed in young fruits, deciduous later; epicarp red when ripe; seed one, globose.

Economic Importance:

  • Persea macrantha (Nees) Kosterm revealed that the drug is used extensively in treatment of various ailments like joint pain, fracture, ulcer, mental ailments.
  • Alkaloids evoke bitter taste, narcotic thus used as muscle relaxant and to relieve pain as it is having analgesic property.
  • Plants steroids are anti-inflammatory in nature due to this it is helpful in reducing the pain also they are anabolic in nature thus promote bone density and muscle growth.
  • Tannins are astringent, dry and gives pucker feeling in the mouth they are used as healing agents in inflammation.
  • The tree is a shade bearer which is used as an canopy, The wood is durable and timber is of high economic value, It is used in making ladder, boat, house building as planks, flooring and ceiling boards.