Pterygota alata (Roxb.) R. Br.
| Kannada Name : | Kolugida, Tattale mara |
| Common Name : | Buddha Coconut tree |
| Family Name : | Malvaceae |
| Scientific Name : | Pterygota alata |
| Species Type : | Indigenous |
| Phenology : | Deciduous |
| Conservation Status : | Not known |
| Flowering Period : | April - May |
| Fruiting Period : | April - May |
| Origin : | India, Southeast Asia |
Uses
Alata fruits possess a narcotic like effect and utilized as an alternate for opium in India. The bark juice was used traditionally in the management of hemorrhoids, dropsy, swelling oedema, gout, leprosy and pain
Description
Large deciduous trees, buttressed, up to 30 m tall. Bark grey, longitudinally arranged lenticels; blaze yellowish cream. Young branchlets stout, terete, dense golden-brown stellate pubescence, later glabrous. Leaves simple, alternate, spiral, clustered at twig ends, broadly ovate or oblong-ovate, thinly coriaceous, glabrous, base cordate or subtruncate, apex acute or slightly acuminate, margin entire or slightly undulate, Inflorescence short axillary panicle, on old wood, rusty brown tomentose. Flowers polygamous, pale orange to red. Fruit a follicle of 3-5, globose or ovoid, woody; seeds winged.
