Terminalia elliptica

Taxobox
name = "Terminalia elliptica"

---

image_width = 240px
image_caption = Bark
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo = Myrtales
familia = Combretaceae
genus = "Terminalia"
species = "T. elliptica"
binomial = "Terminalia elliptica"
binomial_authority = Willd.

"Terminalia elliptica" (syn. "T. alata" Heyne ex Roth, "T. tomentosa" (Roxb.) Wight & Arn.) is a species of "Terminalia" native to southern and southeast Asia in India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.Germplasm Resources Information Network: [http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?410549 "Terminalia elliptica"] ] It is a prominent part of both dry and moist deciduous forests in southern India up to 1000 m.

Common names are Asna, Indian-laurel, Taukkyan (Burma), Sadar, Matti, Marda (India), and casually "crocodile bark" due to the characteristic bark pattern.

It is a tree growing to 30 m tall, with a trunk diameter of 1 m. The fruit is ovoid, 3 cm long, with five wings not extending beyond the fruit apex.Flora of China: [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=132477 "Terminalia"] ] The bark is fire-resistant. The wood is coarse, fairly straight grained, dull to somewhat lustrous and without any smell or taste. The heartwood varies from light brown with few markings to dark brown or brownish black and figured with darker streaks. The sapwood is reddish white and sharply differentiated. The heartwood is moderately durable and the sapwood is liable to powder-post beetle attack. [Wood Technical Fact Sheet: [http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/TechSheets/Chudnoff/SEAsian_Oceanic/htmlDocs_seasian/Terminaliatomentosa.html Terminalia tomentosa complex] ]

Terminalia tomentosa has a remarkable attribute. Some members of the species store water in the dry season. A survey conducted at Bandipur National Park, India showed that a proportion of trees store water and there is a girth dependent increase in the frequency and amount of water storage. The mechanism and ecophysiological significance of this water storage is not known. ["Current Science", [http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/aug252004/416a.pdf "Water Storage in "Terminalia tomentosa"] ]

Uses

The wood is used for furniture, cabinetwork, joinery, paneling, specialty items, boatbuilding, railroad crossties (treated), decorative veneers.

The leaves are used as food for silkworms. Medicine: The bark is used medicinally against diarrhoea. Oxalic acid can be extracted from it. Tannin or dyestuff: The bark and especially the fruit yield pyrogallol and catechol to dye and tan leather.

Water stored in the stem is often tapped and used as a source of potable water in the summer by forest folk. It is also thought to have curative value for stomach pain.

Outside of its native range, it is cultivated in southern China.

ee also

List of Indian timber trees

References