Cordia myxa

Last updated

Assyrian plum
Cordia myxa MS 1790.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Boraginales
Family: Boraginaceae
Genus: Cordia
Species:
C. myxa
Binomial name
Cordia myxa
L.
Synonyms

Cordia obliqua
Cordia domestica

Growing in Ab Pakhsh drkht spstn dr abpkhsh.jpg
Growing in Ab Pakhsh
Unripe in Ab Pakhsh mywh nrsydh drkht spstn dr abpkhsh.jpg
Unripe in Ab Pakhsh

Cordia myxa, the Assyrian plum, is a mid-sized, deciduous tree in the borage family (Boraginaceae), native to Asia. It produces small, edible fruit and is found in warmer areas across Africa and Asia. Other common names in various languages include lasura, leswa,laveda, pidar, panugeri, naruvilli, geduri, spistan, burgund dulu wanan and ntege.

Contents

It is found growing primarily in Asia, as well as, across the globe especially in tropical regions having the right type of geophysical environment. It is seen coming up naturally and growing abundantly from Myanmar in the east to Lebanon and Syria in the west. Its habitat starts at about 200 metres (660 ft) above mean sea level in the plains and ascends to an altitude around 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) in the hills.

Habit

Lasura matures in about 50 to 60 years by when its girth at the breast height is about 1 to 1.5 metres (3 ft 3 in to 4 ft 11 in). Its bole (main trunk) is generally straight and cylindrical, attaining a height of nearly 3 to 4 metres (9.8 to 13.1 ft). The branches spread in all directions by virtue of which its crown can be trained into a beautiful inverted dome like an umbrella. When fully grown up, the total height of the tree comes to nearly 10 to 15 metres (33 to 49 ft). In less favorable climates and/or unfavorable environments, however, it has a lesser growth and may attain a somewhat crooked form. In still worse environments it can even remain a stunted shrub.

Bark

The bark of lasura is grayish brown in color with longitudinal and vertical fissures. The tree can be easily identified from a distance by observing the fissures which are so prominent in the bark of the main bole of a tree approaching maturity.

Leaves

The leaves of lasura are broad, ovate, alternate and stalked with the spread being 7 to 15 centimetres (2.8 to 5.9 in) × 5 to 10 centimetres (2.0 to 3.9 in). In matter of external appearance these are glabrous above and pubescent below. The young leaves tend to be hairy. The fresh foliage is quite useful as fodder for cattle — more so during grass famines. These are also used for wrapping biddies and cheroots.

Flowers

Lasura tree flowers during March–April. The inflorescence, mostly terminal, is, white in color. Individual florets are nearly 5 millimetres (0.20 in) in diameter. At places these are somewhat hairy and white. Being a deciduous plant, the species bears male and female flowers on the same tree. The calyx part of an independent flower is about 8 millimetres (0.31 in) long and glabrous, but not pubescent. It splits irregularly at the opening of its bud into flower. The filaments are hairy.

Fruit

The fruit of lasura start appearing during July–August. It is a kind of a drupe (stone fruit), light pale to brown or even pink in color. The appearance tends to darken when ripening sets in. Being full of viscid glue like mucilage, the pulp is somewhat translucent. When fully ripe the pulp becomes quite sweet in taste and is fully enjoyed by children. The pulp in a half ripe fruit can even be used as an alternative to paper glue in office work.

Cultivation

Keeping in view the numerous utilities of the plant it is widely cultivated in the arid zone too. The species is indigenous to China and is widely cultivated in lower plains and tropical regions. Though this plant flourishes well in deep clay loam and sandy soils, it does still better in areas experiencing nearly 100 to 150 centimetres (39 to 59 in) of annual rainfall. [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>Cordia</i> Genus of flowering plants in the borage family

Cordia is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae. It contains about 300 species of shrubs and trees, that are found worldwide, mostly in warmer regions. Many of the species are commonly called manjack, while bocote may refer to several Central American species in Spanish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soursop</span> Species of plant

Soursop is the fruit of Annona muricata, a broadleaf, flowering, evergreen tree. It is native to the tropical regions of the Americas and the Caribbean and is widely propagated. It is in the same genus, Annona, as cherimoya and is in the Annonaceae family.

<i>Diospyros virginiana</i> Species of tree

Diospyros virginiana is a persimmon species commonly called the American persimmon, common persimmon, eastern persimmon, simmon, possumwood, possum apples, or sugar plum. It ranges from southern Connecticut to Florida, and west to Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Iowa. The tree grows wild but has been cultivated for its fruit and wood since prehistoric times by Native Americans.

<i>Phyllanthus emblica</i> Berry and plant

Phyllanthus emblica, also known as emblic, emblic myrobalan, myrobalan, Indian gooseberry, Malacca tree, or amla, from the Sanskrit आमलकी (āmalakī), is a deciduous tree of the family Phyllanthaceae. Its native range is tropical and southern Asia.

<i>Cyrilla</i> Genus of flowering plants

Cyrilla racemiflora, the sole species in the genus Cyrilla, is a flowering plant in the family Cyrillaceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Americas, from the southeastern United States, south through the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America to northern Brazil and Venezuela in South America. Common names include swamp cyrilla, swamp titi, palo colorado, red titi, black titi, white titi, leatherwood, ironwood, he huckleberry, and myrtle.

<i>Spondias mombin</i> Species of tree

Spondias mombin, also known as yellow mombin, hog plum, amra or cajazeira, is a species of tree and flowering plant in the family Anacardiaceae. It is native to the tropical Americas, including the West Indies. The tree was introduced by the Portuguese in South Asia in the beginning of the 17th century. It has been naturalized in parts of Africa, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, The Bahamas, Indonesia, and other Caribbean islands. It is rarely cultivated except in parts of the Brazilian Northeast.

<i>Pouteria caimito</i> Species of plant

Pouteria caimito, the abiu, is a tropical fruit tree originating in the Amazonian region of South America, and this type of fruit can also be found in the Philippines and other Southeast Asia. It grows to an average of 10 metres high, with ovoid fruits. The inside of the fruit is translucent and white. It has a creamy and jelly-like texture with a taste resembling caramel custard.

<i>Cotoneaster integerrimus</i> Species of flowering plant

Cotoneaster integerrimus, the common cotoneaster, is a species of Cotoneaster native to central and eastern Europe and southwest Asia, from southern Belgium and eastern France south to Italy, and east through Germany to the Balkans, northern Turkey, the Crimea, the Caucasus and northern Iran; plants in Spain may also belong in this species. In the past, it was treated in a wider sense, including plants from Wales now split off as Cotoneaster cambricus and plants from Scandinavia now treated as Cotoneaster scandinavicus, but differs from these in genetic profile and detail of foliage and fruit.

<i>Mimusops elengi</i> Species of tree

Mimusops elengi is a medium-sized evergreen tree found in tropical forests in South Asia, Southeast Asia and northern Australia. English common names include Spanish cherry, medlar, and bullet wood. Its timber is valuable, the fruit is edible, and it is used in traditional medicine. As the trees give thick shade and flowers emit fragrance, it is a prized collection of gardens.

<i>Vitex lignum-vitae</i> Species of tree

Vitex lignum-vitae, known in Australia as yellow hollywood or "lignum-vitae", is a rainforest tree of eastern Australia. The natural range of distribution is in dry, sub-tropical or tropical rainforest from the Richmond River, New South Wales to Cape York Peninsula at the northernmost tip of Australia. It also occurs in New Guinea. Lignum vitae is Latin for "wood of life".

<i>Celtis africana</i> Species of tree

Celtis africana, the white stinkwood, is a deciduous tree in the family Cannabaceae. Its habit ranges from a tall tree in forest to a medium-sized tree in bushveld and open country, and a shrub on rocky soil. It occurs in Yemen and over large parts of Africa south of the Sahara. It is a common tree in the south and east of southern Africa, where the odour given off by freshly-cut green timber is similar to that of Ocotea bullata or black stinkwood.

<i>Cordia dichotoma</i> Species of plant

Cordia dichotoma is a species of flowering tree in the borage family, Boraginaceae, that is native to the Indomalayan realm, northern Australia, and western Melanesia.

<i>Cerastium utriense</i> Species of flowering plant in the pink family Caryophyllaceae

Cerastium utriense is a species of perennial flowering plant in the genus Cerastium, belonging to the family Caryophyllaceae. It was first described in 1988. It is endemic to Italy.

Dodecadenia is a botanical genus of flowering plants in the family Lauraceae. It contains a single species, Dodecadenia grandiflora. It is present from central Asia, to Himalayas and India. It is present in tropical and subtropical montane rainforest, laurel forest, in the weed-tree forests in valleys, mixed forests of coniferous and deciduous broad-leaved trees, Tsuga forests; 2,000–2,600 metres (6,600–8,500 ft) in China in provinces of Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan, and countries of Bhutan, India, Myanmar, and Nepal.

<i>Cordia sulcata</i> Species of tree

Cordia sulcata is known commonly as moral, white manjack, or mucilage manjack. It is a tree that can be found throughout the Caribbean islands from Cuba to Trinidad.

<i>Cola nitida</i> Species of flowering plant

Cola nitida is a species of plant belonging to the family Malvaceae.

<i>Eugenia myrcianthes</i> Species of tree

Eugenia myrcianthes or ubajay is a species of plant in the family Myrtaceae found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

<i>Myroxylon balsamum</i> Species of legume

Myroxylon balsamum, Santos mahogany, is a species of tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to tropical forests from Southern Mexico through the Amazon regions of Peru and Brazil at elevations of 200–690 metres (660–2,260 ft). Plants are found growing in well drained soil in evergreen humid forest.

Carpolobia goetzei is a plant species in the milkwort family (Polygalaceae). It is endemic to forested areas, wooded steppes, and areas with alluvial soil with altitudes below 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) in Tropical East Africa between South Sudan and Mozambique, as well as northern Madagascar.

<i>Hibiscus mesnyi</i> Species of tree

Hibiscus mesnyi is a deciduous, riverine, tropical forest tree, endemic to Vietnam, in the family Malvaceae.

References

  1. Oudhia, P., 2007. Cordia myxa L. [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. Schmelzer, G.H. & Gurib-Fakim, A. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Cordia myxa at Wikimedia Commons Wikispecies-logo.svg Data related to Cordia myxa at Wikispecies