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Mopane Paddle-Pod
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Mopane Paddle-Pod
ative Photo: Prashant Awale
Common name: Mopane Paddle-Pod • Kannada: ದೊಡ್ಡ ಮಾದೆರಿ ಬಳ್ಳಿ dodda maderiballi, ಕಾಂಗುಣ ಬಳ್ಳಿ kangunaballi • Tamil: மொரசரக்கொடி moracarakkoti • Telugu: వెర్రియాప verriyaapa • Tulu: ಮಲ್ಲ ಮಾದೆರಿ ಬಳ್ಳು malla maderi ballu Source: Names of Plants in India
Botanical name: Reissantia indica    Family: Celastraceae (Spike-thorn family)
Synonyms: Pristimera indica, Hippocratea indica
Mopane Paddle-Pod is woody climber with looping branchlets. Leaves are opposite, up to 12 x 7 cm, obovate, bluntly pointed, narrowing into the base. Nerves are 4 or 5 pairs, rising up. Leaf-stalks are 1 cm long. Flowers are tiny, green-white, borne in drooping stalked panicles in leaf axils. Sepals are 5, ovate, pointed, hairless. Petals are 5, 3 x 1 mm, oblong, curved, hairless. Stamens are 3, filaments short curved out. Ovary is 3-celled, sunken in the disk. Fruits are 1-3-fascicled capsules. Capsules are narrowly oblong-elliptic, 3-4 x 1-1.5 cm, tip notched. Seeds are 2, about 2.5 cm, wing tip notched. Mopane Paddle-Pod is found in Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam. In India it is found in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal.
Medicinal uses: Root bark is used for the treatment of respiratory troubles. Stem is considered febrifuge. Leaves are scorched and given to women during confinement. Powdered leaves and roots are applied to sores and wounds.
Identification credit: Shrikant Ingalhalikar Photographed in Uttar Kannada, Karnataka.
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