Litsea monopetala (Roxb.) Pers.Family: Lauraceae
Synonyms: Litsea polyantha Juss., Tetranthera alnoides Miq., Tetranthera fruticosa Buch.-Ham. ex Meisn., Tetranthera hexantha Sieber ex Meisn., Tetranthera hirana Buch.-Ham. ex Wall., Tetranthera macrophylla Roxb., Tetranthera monopetala Roxb., Tetranthera verticillata Buch.-Ham. ex Meisn., Tetranthera villosa Bojer, Tomex monopetala (Roxb.) Hoffmanns., Tomex pubescens Willd. ex Meisn.
- Common name: Meda
- Assamese: muga, sualu
- Bengali: bara-kukurchita
- Cantonese: 假柿樹
- Chinese: 山菠萝树, 假柿木姜子
- Frrench: Litsée à un pétale
- Hindi: Meda, Gwa, Singraf, Katmarra, Jangli-rai-am
- Kannada: gajapippali, hemmudi, kainji
- Khasi: dieng soh phohskei, dieng sohtyllap
- Manipuri: তুমিতলা Tumitla
- Marathi: ranamba
- Mizo: nauthak
- Nepali: कुटमिरो Kutmiro,
- Sanskrit: Maidaa-lakdi
- Tamil: maidalagadil, muchaippeyetti, picinpattai
- Telugu: chiru mamidi, meda, chiru maamidi, naara, narachettu, naramaamidi
Description: Shrubs or trees, up to 7 m tall and 60 cm in diameter. Bark dark brown, exfoliating in small corky pieces; inner bark white, odorless. Wood brownish. Branchlets densely, minutely rusty sub-lanuginose. Leaves spirally arranged, chartaceous, variable, broadly elliptic to subovate-elliptic, 4-15 x 8-28 cm, obtuse, apiculate or shortly acuminate, base contracted into 1.5-2.5 cm long, slender, densely pilose petiole; upper surface glabrous, except the impressed midrib, smooth or densely, reticulate, nerves filiform, impressed; secondary nerves parallel, numerous; lower surface glaucous, sparsely, minutely pilose, denser on the nerves, 8-12 pairs of erect-patent, prominulous nerves, secondary nerves perpendicular to the nerves. Umbels numerous in densely brown pilose, 0.5 -1(-2) cm long peduncles, these attached to dwarf (5mm) axillary, bracteate branchlets or umbels behind the leaves; bracts 5-6 mm. Male flower: tube obconical, pilose inside; tepals ovate-spathulate, 2.5 mm; stamens 9-12, filaments 3 mm, thin, pilose near the base, anthers narrow, 1.25 mm, outer ones introrse; glands stipitate. Female flower: tube 1.5 mm; pedicel 2 mm long, pilose; tepals 1.5 mm; staminodes sligtly shorter than the tepals; ovary glabrous; style thick, stigma peltate, lobed. Fruit subglobose, up to 7 mm; cup shallow, up to 5 mm in diameter, pedicel up to 7 mm., slightly thickened at the apex.
Uses: Leaves stomachic, nerve tonic, applied for arthritis; Amorphophallus bulbifer rhizome paste mixed with leaves of Litsea monopetala and Mikania micrantha applied externally in stomachache. Bark astringent, stomachic, stimulant; bark mucilaginous extract in chronic diarrhea and dysentery; bark paste applied in bone fracture, body ache and swellings. A decoction of roots of Dillenia indica with roots of Glycosmis pentaphylla and Litsea monopetala given in biliousness. Veterinary medicine, bark paste applied in bone fracture. [CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants]
Bark—stimulant, astringent, spasmolytic, stomachic, antidiarrhoeal. Root—applied externally for pains, bruises and contusions. [Indian Medicinal Plants An Illustrated Dictionary]
Bark—stimulant, astringent, spasmolytic, stomachic, antidiarrhoeal. Root—applied externally for pains, bruises and contusions. [Indian Medicinal Plants An Illustrated Dictionary]
10 Published articles of Litsea monopetala
