Phyllanthus acidus (L.) Skeels
ശീമനെല്ലി
| Family: | EUPHORBIACEAE |
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| Sub-Family: | Not available | ||||
| English Name: | Star Gooseberry | ||||
| Synonym: | Averrhoa acida L. | ||||
| Common Name: | Arinelli | ||||
| Flowering & Fruiting Period: | December - August | ||||
| Distribution: | Probably native of Brazil | ||||
| Habitat: | Cultivated | ||||
| Uses: | Fruits edible, Ayurvedic. The root is an active purgative. An infusion of the root is taken to alleviate asthma. An infusion of the leaves is used as a dieting aid. The latex is credited with emetic and purgative activity. A decoction of the bark is used to treat bronchial catarrh. The fruit is used as a laxative. They are also taken as a liver tonic to enrich the blood. The juice of the fruit is instilled in the eyes to treat eye-troubles. The bark is used in India as a tanning agent. An extract from the plant has shown nematicidal activity. | ||||
| Key Characteristics: | Small monoecious trees, to 5 m high. Leaves distichous, elliptic to obovate; stipules toothed. Flowers on leafless branchlets. Tepals 4, unequal, 2+2, ovate, 1- nerved, acute. Stamens 4, exserted; filaments recurved; anthers oblong, dehiscence vertical. Disc glands 4. Female: a few, or solitary. Ovary subglobose, 3(4) - lobed; styles 3 or 4, reflexed, forked into subulate arms. Drupe roughly 6-8-angular, depressed - globose, fleshy; endocarp hard. | ||||