Manilkara hexandra (Roxb.) Dubard
പഴമുന്നിപ്പാല
| Family: | SAPOTACEAE |
|
|||
| Sub-Family: | Not available | ||||
| English Name: | Khirni Tree | ||||
| Synonym: | Mimusops hexandra Roxb. | ||||
| Common Name: | Mullupala | ||||
| Flowering & Fruiting Period: | September-November | ||||
| Distribution: | Sri Lanka, India, Siam and Indo-China | ||||
| Habitat: | Dry deciduous forests | ||||
| Uses: | The fruit can be eaten fresh or dried. Pale yellow oil, known as rayan oil, is obtained from the seed kernels. The bark is added to palm sugar to inhibit fermentation. The seeds are of medicinal value. This species is often used as a rootstock for the sapodilla (M. zapota) in India. | ||||
| Key Characteristics: | Khirni trees are evergreen trees, bark blackish-grey, longitudinally fissured and cracked. Leaves simple, alternate; lamina elliptic; margin entire. Flowers bisexual, white, 1 or 2 axillary; calyx lobes 6, in 2 series of 3 each, reflexed; corolla lobes 18 in 3 series of 6 each, valvate; stamen 6-8, alternating with staminodes; ovary pubescent, 12-celled, superior. Fruit a berry. | ||||