Bergera koenigii L.

 

Family: Rutaceae

Synonym: Murraya koenigii (L.) Spreng. 

Vernacular name: Chakkimaram, Mavaranchi, Mavuringi, Muttanari,

Habit: Shrub to Small Tree

Habitat:  Cultivated

Distribution:  Indo-Malesia and China

Flowering and Fruiting: March-July

Key identification features: These plants can be either shrubs or small trees. Their leaves are pinnate, crowded at the twig-ends, with 15-25 asymmetrical, oblique leaflets. The flowers are small and white, arranged in terminal panicles. The fruit is a purplish-black subglobose berry, containing 1 or 2 green, globular-ovoid seeds..

Uses: Its aromatic leaves are widely used in Indian cuisine, adding a distinct flavor to dishes.

 

Acronychia pedunculata (L.) Miq.

 

Family: Rutaceae

Synonym: Jambolifera pedunculata L.

Vernacular name: Chakkimaram, Mavaranchi, Mavuringi, Muttanari,

Habit: Tree

Habitat:  Semi-evergreen forests, also in the plains

Distribution:  Tropical & Subtropical Asia

Flowering and Fruiting: March-November

Key identification features: Small evergreen trees with glabrous branchlets bear unifoliolate, opposite leaves. These leaves are obovate, obovate-oblong, or oblanceolate in shape. The bisexual yellowish-white flowers grow in trichotomous, corymbose axillary cymes. Stamens occur in two series, totaling 8, with unequal filaments. Fruit is a berry.

Uses: It treats conditions like scabies, sores, and ulcers. The roots are used for rheumatism and snake bites.

Naringi crenulata Roxb.

 

Family: Rutaceae

Synonym: Hesperethusa crenulata (Roxb.) M. Roem.

Vernacular name: Dadhiphala, Kattunarakam, Mahavilvam, Malanarakam, Manmatham,

Habit: Tree

Habitat: Dry forests, Semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forests, also in the plains

Distribution:  India to Indo-China

Flowering and Fruiting: March-December

Key identification features: The small thorny tree stands up to 10m tall and is armed with spines. Its bark is yellowish-grey, smooth, and corky. The leaves are imparipinnate, alternate, and estipulate. The leaflets are opposite, sessile, and estipellate. The tree produces bisexual white flowers in few-flowered axillary racemes. The fruit is a berry.

Uses: The honey has a bitter taste. Preferred firewood species. Wood yellowish-white, hard and used for making agricultural implements.

Glycosmis pentaphylla (Retz.) DC.

 

Family: Rutaceae

Synonym: Limonia pentaphylla Retz. 

Vernacular name: Kurumpannal, Kuttippannel, Panal, Panchi

Habit: Shrub

Habitat: Semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forests, also in the plains

Distribution: India, Sri Lanka to Southeast Asia and Malesia.

Flowering and Fruiting: September-April

Key identification features: Small erect shrubs are characterized by their leaflets, which are elliptic-lanceolate and glandular. The flowers can be found in both terminal and axillary panicles. The berry is ovoid in shape, initially white before transitioning to pink as it matures, typically containing one to two seeds.

Uses: Its leaves, stems, barks, fruits, and roots are employed for the treatment of cough, fever, bronchitis, chest pain, anemia, jaundice, liver disorders, inflammation etc.

Clausena indica (Dalzell) Oliv.

 

Family: Rutaceae

Synonym: Bergera nitida Thw.

Vernacular name: Kattukaruveppu, Kattumunthiri, Gorakotta

Habit: Shrub

Habitat: Semi-evergreen and evergreen forests

Distribution: Peninsular India and Sri Lanka

Flowering and Fruiting: February-June

Key identification features: Shrubs with leaves arranged alternately, having 7-13 leaflets each. The inflorescence is terminal, with flowers having a spherical shape in buds and white petals. Berries are globose and yellowish when ripe.

Uses: The yellowish, globose berry is edible.

Melicope lunu-ankenda (Gaertn.) Hartley

 

Family: Rutaceae

Synonym: Euodia lunu-ankenda (Gaertn.) Merr. 

Vernacular name: Kambili, Kanala, Kaneli, Nasakam

Habit: Tree

Habitat: Evergreen, semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forests.

Distribution: Indo-Malesia

Flowering and Fruiting: May-July

Key identification features: These deciduous trees grow up to 18 m in height. Their bark is yellowish-grey, scurfy-muricate, and slightly fissured. The leaves are trifoliate, elliptic. The unisexual flowers appear in axillary paniculate cymes and are either white or greenish-yellow. Male flowers have 4 white petals, and 4 stamens. Female flowers are similar. The fruit is a brown capsule with 4 cocci, each containing oblong black seeds.

 Uses: Its leaves are consumed as a condiment, and the roots are used in traditional medicine to treat colds and rheumatism.

Aegle marmelos (L.) Correa

 

 Family: Rutaceae

Synonym: Belou marmelos (L.) Lyons 

Vernacular names: Koolakam Koovalam Mavilavu Vilvam

Habit: Tree

Habitat: Plain areas, forests, near roadsides

Distribution: India

Flowering and fruiting: March to June

Key identification features: Leaves alternate-3-foliolate, sometimes 5-foliolate, dimorphic; petioles terete to 6 cm long, glabrous or puberulous when young; leaflets subsessile,Inflorescences axillary and terminal, racemose or corymbose.

Uses: The pulp is laxative and it is also considered medicinal for indigestion and constipation The unripe fruit is boiled or roasted to use as medicine for dysentery and diarrhoea.

Zanthoxylum rhetsa (Roxb.) DC.

 

 Family: Rutaceae

Synonym: Fagara budrunga Roxb.

Vernacular names :Kothumurikku, Mullilam, Mullilavu (Malayalam)

Habit: Tree

Habitat: Open forests, forest margins

Distribution: Indo-Malesia to Australia

Flowering and fruiting: March-November

Key identification features : Deciduous trees with a brown, prickly bark grow up to 20 m. They have clustered, alternating leaves with 13-23 leaflets, which are oblong. The flowers are small, greenish-yellow, and found in prickly panicles.. The fruit is a purplish aromatic capsule with blue-black seeds.

 Uses: Bark and fruits are used for their digestive and anti-inflammatory properties in traditional medicine.Tender leaves are eaten as vegetable by Aitonias & Mishings

Vepris bilocularis (Wight & Arn.) Engl.

 

 Family: Rutaceae

Synonym: Cranzia bilocularis (Wight & Arn.) Kuntze 

 Vernacular names: Karakil Moothassari (malayalam)

Habit: Tree

Habitat: Evergreen and semi-evergreen forests

Distribution: Southern Western Ghats

Flowering and fruiting: February-May

Key identification features: Evergreen dioecious trees, reaching up to 25 m in height, feature a yellowish-grey bark and trifoliate, alternate leaves with elliptic to oblong leaflets. The leaves clear-gland dotted, and the flowers are small, yellow, and clustered. Male flowers have a saucer-shaped calyx and orbicular petals, while female flowers have a superior ovary and produce a fleshy, glandular berry as fruit.

Uses: Wood is tough and used for helves and handles, cartwheels and spokes. Root decoction given in biliousness; wood used in eye and ear diseases; decoction of wood boiled in oil used in rheumatic swellings, asthma and leprosy.