Terminalia elliptica Terminalia alata Nalla maddi, Marutamaram, asan, raktarjun

Terminalia elliptica Willd.
Family: Combretaceae
Synonyms: Terminalia alata

• English: Indian Laurel, Silver grey wood, White chuglam
• Hindi: आसन Asan, साज Saj
• Marathi: ऐन Ain, असण Asan, साताडा Satada, शार्दूळ Shardul
• Tamil: அருச்சுனம் Aruccunam, கருமருது Karumarutu, மருதமரம் Marutamaram
• Malayalam: Matthi
• Telugu: ఇనుమద్ది Innu maddi, నల్లమద్ది Nalla maddi
• Kannada: Banappu, Karimaddi, Sadada, Unapu mara
• Bengali: Asan
• Oriya: Sahaju
• Sanskrit: रक्तअर्जुन Raktarjun

Description: Deciduous trees, 10-15m high; bark black with deep vertical fissures and transverse cracks looks like crocodile skin; branchlets villous. Leaves opposite; lamina thick-chartaceous, elliptic-oblong, 6-14 × 3-7cm, base and apex obtuse, shallowly crenulate, glabrous above, tomentose beneath; secondary nerves articulate; glands turbinate on the mid nerve at the base of the leaf blade. Flowers 5-merous, 4-5mm across, light brownish-yellow; in 4-5cm long dense pedunculed spikes that are aggregated into 10-15 cm long terminal panicles. Rachis villous. Sepals 5, brown, 3-4mm long, villous. Petals absent. Stamens 10, exerted. Ovary inferior, terete, oblong, ovules 2-3 pendulous; style exerted. Fruit woody, and fibrous, 3-5 × 3-4cm, ovoid, with 5 glabrous wings.

Used in Ayurveda. Bark juice applied to treat wounds, cuts, skin diseases, diarrhea; bark for anemia. Gum edible for stomach disorders. Leaves paste given in vomiting; boiling leaves vapor inhaled to relieve headache; tender leaves chewed and applied along with saliva to bleeding wounds and bandaged. Magico-religious beliefs, logs of this wood are worshipped, a very sacred tree avoided for suicide by hanging; articles associated with Gods and shrines are made of this wood and also funerary pillars; shrines made under this tree. Bark infusion in menstrual disorders. [CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants]

12 Published articles of Terminalia elliptica / alata