Botanical Name Plant's Common Name Plant Family   

   MT023 : Schleichera oleosa (Lour.) Oken

Plant Category : Tree

Melghat's Flora's Serial No. : 92

Synonym : Conghas zeylonensis Wall.; Cussambium glabrum Buch.-Ham.; Cussambium oleosum (Lour.) Kuntze.; Cussambium pubescens Buch.-Ham.; Cussambium spinosum Buch.-Ham.; Koon oleosus Pierre.; Melicocca pubescens (Roth) DC.; Melicocca trijuga (Willd.) Juss.; Ornitrophe triandra Blanco.; Pistacia oleosa Lour.; Schleichera aculeata Kostel.; Schleichera pubescens Roth.; Schleichera trijuga Willd.; Schmidelia triandra Blanco.; Scytalia trijuga (Willd.) Roxb. ex DC.; Stadmania pubescens (Roth) Spreng.; Stadmania trijuga (Willd.) Spreng.;

Plant Common Name : Kusum, K-Baru, Ceylon oak, Lac tree, Gum lac tree • Hindi: Kusum • Telugu: Posku • Marathi: Kusumb • Gujarati: Kosumb • Tamil: Kumbadiri • Malayalam: Cottilai • Kannada: Cakota

Plant Family : Sapindaceae

Description : Deciduous trees, to 20 m high, bole fluted; bark 10-12 mm thick, surface grey, smooth, brittle; blaze reddish-brown. Leaves paripinnate, alternate, exstipulate; rachis 5.5-11.5 cm, stout, glabrous, swollen at base; leaflets 4-6, opposite or subopposite; petiolule upto 3 mm, slender, glabrous; lamina 5-15 x 1.8-4.5 cm, elliptic-oblong, ovate or obovate, base oblique or rarely obtuse, apex acute or obtuse, margin entire, coriaceous, glabrous; lateral nerves 10-23, parallel, prominent, intercostae reticulate, faint. Flowers polygamodioecious, 5-6 mm across, greenish-yellow, in axillary spicate panicles; male flowers: calyx lobes 5, valvate or obscurely imbricate; petals 0; disc complete, with the disc; stamens 7 or 8, free, inserted within the disc; filaments 1.5 mm, pilose; anthers oblong; pistillode small; bisexual flowers: ovary 2 mm, superior, 3-celled, ovule 1 in each cell; style rigid, terete; stigma 2 or 3 lobed. Fruit a drupe, 16-18 mm across, subcrustaceous, pointed, often echinate with stout rather blunt prickles; seed 1 or 2, enclosed in a pulpy aril which has a pleasant acid taste; testa smooth, brown.

Plant Location in Melghat : Kolkaz, Semadoh Rangubeli and Jarida

Medicinal Use / Activity : The powdered seeds are applied to wounds and ulcers of cattle to remove maggots. The bark is used as an astringent and against skin inflammations, ulcers, itching, acne and other skin infections. It is generally used as an analgesic, antibiotic and against dysentery. Recently, it was reported that the bark along with water is used to treat menorrhea. antitumor; Anticancer;

Plant's Phytochemicals : COMPOUNDS: lupeol; lupeol acetate; betulin; betulic acid; beta-sitosterol; scopoletin; taraxerone; tricadenic acid A;

ACTIVE COMPOUNDS (3):

Lupeol;

Beta-sitosterol;

Betulin;

Plant's Current Status :

Plant's Cross Database Reference : 259142

Reference : Dhore M. A. (1984) The flora of melghat tiger reserve - https://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/31755 - http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Kusum%20Tree.html - http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Schleichera+oleosa - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0974694312000047

Reference : ~ J. Lenin Bapuji and S. Venkat Ratnam; "Traditional Uses of Some Medicinal Plants by tribals of Gangaraju Madugula Mandal of Visakhapatnam District, Andhra Pradesh"; Ethnobotanical Leaflets (2009); 13: 388-98 PMID :

~ Dhore MA and Joshi PA; "Flora of Melghat Tiger Reserve"; Directorate, Project Tiger, Melghat (1988); PMID :

~ Omesh Bajpai, Jitendra Pandey and Lal Babu Chaudhary; "Ethnomedicinal Uses of Tree Species by Tharu Tribes in the Himalayan Terai Region of India"; Research Journal of Medicinal Plant (2016); 10(1): 19-41 PMID :

Kingdom : Plantae - Plants
Phylum : Tracheophyta
Subkingdom : Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision : Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division : Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class : Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass : Rosidae
Order : Sapindales
Family : Sapindaceae - Soapberry family
Genus : Schleichera Willd. - schleichera
Species : Schleichera oleosa (Lour.) Oken - lac tree

Schleichera oleosa (Lour.) Oken - lac tree
Schleichera oleosa (Lour.) Oken - lac tree
Schleichera oleosa (Lour.) Oken - lac tree
Schleichera oleosa (Lour.) Oken - lac tree
Schleichera oleosa (Lour.) Oken - lac tree