Bark
Stem woody, cylindrical, greyish-brown, relatively smooth when young and becoming rough with age; branches often slender and twining.
Sarcostigma kleinii
Syn. Sarcostigma horsfieldii
IUCN Red List
Not Evaluated
(NE)
Local name
- Odal oil plant (English)
- Puvanna (Kannada)
- Ingud (Sanskrit)
Climber type
Evergreen
Deciduous
Family: Icacinaceae
Indicated uses
Medicinal
Edible
Ornamental
Avenue
Other
Flowering & fruiting
Flowering
Fruiting
Key characters
Leaves
Leaves are 17-22 x 8-12 cm, oblong-lanceshaped, tip tapering, base rounded or blunt; lateral nerves 8 pairs, reticulate/ nerved; leaf-stalk 5-12 cm long.
Flower
Flowers are borne in spikes up to 35 cm long, slender, in leaf-axils or from tubercles. Flowers are 3-6 together, yellow; calyx cup-shaped, 2 mm across, 5-toothed; petals 3-5 mm long, oblong, recurved.
Fruit / Seeds
Drupe to 3 x 1.5 cm, ovoid, orange-yellow, hairless.
Did you know?
Its seeds yield a dense, slow-burning oil that was traditionally used as a lamp fuel. Before modern fuels became widely available, forest communities used this oil to light traditional lamps during the long monsoon nights.
Distribution
W. India, Indo-China to W. Malesia