Thespesia populnea (L.) Sol. ex Corr.
| Kannada Name : | Adavi bende mara, Huvarasi mara |
| Common Name : | Portia tree, Pacific rosewood, Indian tulip tree |
| Family Name : | Malvaceae |
| Scientific Name : | Thespesia populnea |
| Species Type : | Exotic |
| Phenology : | Evergreen |
| Conservation Status : | Not known |
| Flowering Period : | All year |
| Fruiting Period : | All year |
| Origin : | Tropical Africa and Asia |
Uses
The fruit juice is used to treat herpes. The crushed fruit is used in a treatment for urinary tract problems and abdominal swellings. An extract of the fruit is applied to swollen testicles. A decoction of the leaves is used in treating coughs, influenza, headache and relapses in illnesses. The stem is employed in treating breast cancer.
Description
Evergreen or dry deciduous trees, up to 15 m high, bark dark brown; blaze yellowish-pink; branchlets densely covered with minute scales, glabrescent. Leaves simple, alternate, orbicular or ovate, coriaceous, with peltate scales above, glabrescent or stellate-tomentose beneath, base cordate or truncate, apex acute or acuminate, margin entire or dentate. Inflorescence solitary or terminal and axillary cyme. Flowers bisexual, yellow, showy. Fruit a capsule, globose, indehiscent, depressed, scaly, ultimately glabrescent; seeds many, ovoid, channeled along the back, pubescent.
