Mesua ferrea

Mesua ferrea
Ceylon ironwood
Ceylon ironwood in Thelwatta, South-East Sri Lanka.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Calophyllaceae
Genus: Mesua
Species: M. ferrea
Binomial name
Mesua ferrea
L.
Synonyms

Mesua coromandelina Wight
Mesua nagassarium (Burm.f.) Kosterm.
Mesua pedunculata Wight
Mesua roxburghii Wight
Mesua sclerophylla Thw.
Mesua speciosa Choisy
Mesua stylosa

Mesua ferrea (Ceylon ironwood, Indian rose chestnut, Cobra's saffron or locally, Penaga Lilin,Na (Sinhalese) or Nahar/Nahor, Sanskrit Nāga नाग, नागर, नागकेशर) is a species in the family Calophyllaceae. The plant is named after the heaviness of its timber and cultivated in tropical climates for its form, foliage, and fragrant flowers. It is native to tropical Sri Lanka but also cultivated in Assam, southern Nepal, Indochina, and the Malay Peninsula.

It is a tall tree reaching up to 100 feet tall, often buttressed at the base with a trunk up to 2 meters in diameter. It is common in wet zone at Sri Lanka up to 1500 meters. It has simple, narrow, oblong, dark green leaves 7–15 cm long, with a whitish underside; the emerging young leaves are red to yellowish pink and drooping. The flowers are 4–7.5 cm diameter, with four white petals and a center of numerous yellow stamens.

The National Ironwood Forest is a 96 ha (238 acre) forest in Sri Lanka where Mesua ferrea trees dominate the vegetation. It is said[by whom?] that during King Dappula IV's period (8th century AD) this forest was created and the remaining trees are the shoots of it. Hence it is considered the oldest man-made forest in Sri Lanka. According to botanists this is the only ironwood forest in the dry zone with wet zone vegetation.

Contents

Symbolism and uses

  • It is the National tree of Sri Lanka. The wood is very heavy, hard and strong. Weight is about 72 lbs per cubic foot & density is 1.12 ton/m3. Color is deep dark red. Refractory in sawing & mechanics moderately well. It is used for railroad ties and heavy structural timber.
  • Its resin is slightly poisonous, but many parts have medicinal properties. It enhances the complexion. It leads to fragility transparency to the skin. The flowers are acrid, anodyne, digestive, constipating, stomachache[clarification needed]. They are useful in conditions like asthma, leprosy, cough, fever, vomiting and impotency[citation needed]. The seed oil is considered to be very useful in conditions like vata and skin diseases. Dried flowers are used for bleeding hemorrhoids and dysentery with mucus. Fresh flowers are useful remedy for itching, nausea, erysipelas, bleeding piles, metrorrhagea, menorrhagea, excessive thirst, and sweating[citation needed]. Oil from the seeds is used for sores, scabies, wounds, and rheumatism.

Names

Mesua ferrea has different names in various Indian languages.[1]

  • Sanskrit : Champeryah; Nagkesara; Nagapushpa
  • Hindi : Gajapushpam; Nagakesara (नाग केसर)
  • Bengali : Nagesar
  • Kannada : Nagasampige (ನಾಗಸಂಪಿಗೆ)
  • Malayalam : Nagachampakam; Veila
  • Marathi : Nagchampe
  • Tamil : Cheru-nagapu; Sirunagappoo; Veilutta-champakam
  • Telugu : Nagakesara

See also

References

  1. ^ Mesua ferrea, Dr. K.M. Nadkarni's Indian Materia Medica, by A.K. Nadkarni, Popular Prakashan, Bombay, 1976, pp: 792-4.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Mesua ferrea — tikrasis gelžmedis statusas T sritis vardynas apibrėžtis Kliuzijinių šeimos medieninis, vaistinis augalas (Mesua ferrea), paplitęs atogrąžų Azijoje. atitikmenys: lot. Mesua ferrea angl. gau gau; mesua šaltinis Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos… …   Lithuanian dictionary (lietuvių žodynas)

  • Mesua ferrea — Ironwood I ron*wood , n. (Bot.) A tree unusually hard, strong, or heavy wood. [1913 Webster] Note: In the United States, the hornbeam and the hop hornbeam are so called; also the {Olneya Tesota}, a small tree of Arizona; in the West Indies, the… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • MESUA FERREA L. - МЕЗУА ЖЕЛЕЗНАЯ, ИНДИЙСКОЕ ЖЕЛЕЗНОЕ ДЕРЕВО — см. 642. Дерево. М. ferrea L. М. железная, Индийское железное дерево Sp. pl. (1753) 515. Burkill (1935) 1459. Wealth of India 6 (1962) 349, f. S у n. M. speciosa Choisy; M. pedunculata, M. coromandeliana, M. roxburghii Wight; M. salicina, M.… …   Справочник растений

  • Mesua ferrea — noun handsome East Indian evergreen tree often planted as an ornamental for its fragrant white flowers that yield a perfume; source of very heavy hardwood used for railroad ties • Syn: ↑rose chestnut, ↑ironwood, ↑ironwood tree • Hypernyms: ↑tree… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Mesua — ferrea foliage Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae …   Wikipedia

  • Mesua —   Mesua Mesua fer …   Wikipedia Español

  • mesua — tikrasis gelžmedis statusas T sritis vardynas apibrėžtis Kliuzijinių šeimos medieninis, vaistinis augalas (Mesua ferrea), paplitęs atogrąžų Azijoje. atitikmenys: lot. Mesua ferrea angl. gau gau; mesua šaltinis Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos… …   Lithuanian dictionary (lietuvių žodynas)

  • Mesua — noun genus of tropical Asiatic trees having large solitary flowers • Syn: ↑genus Mesua • Hypernyms: ↑dilleniid dicot genus • Member Holonyms: ↑Guttiferae, ↑family Guttiferae, ↑Clusiaceae, ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

  • Mesua — (M. L.), Pflanzengattung, nach Mesue benannt, aus der Familie der Clusiaceae Callophylleae, Monadelphie, Polyandrie L.; Arten: M. ferrea, ostindischer Baum mit sehr festem Holz (Eisenbaum), wohlriechenden Blumen u. eßbaren, den Kastanien… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Mesŭa — L., Gattung der Guttiferen, Sträucher und Bäume mit lanzettlichen, lederartigen Blättern, achselständigen, einzelnen, ziemlich großen Blüten und fleischiger oder fast holziger, bis viersamiger Frucht. Drei Arten in Vorderindien, Hinterindien und… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

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