Black Dammar (കുന്തിരിക്കം)

Scientific Name: Canarium strictum Roxb.

Synonyms: Canarium resiniferum Bruce ex King, Canarium sikkimense King

Unique ID: 35

Systematic Position

Class: Dicotyledonae

Sub Class: Polypetalae                         

Series: Calyciflorae

Order: Geraniales

Family: Burseraceae

Common Names

English – black dammer

Malayalam – കുന്തിരിക്കം

Tamil – Karunkungiliyam, Karangkunthrikam

 


 

Description: Trees, to 30 m high, bole straight, buttressed; bark 4-7 mm thick, surface grey-brown or yellow, smooth, exfoliation small, irregular; blaze yellowish, aromatic; exudation brownish-black, resinous; branchlets velvety-tomentose. Leaves imparipinnate, alternate; stipules obscure; rachis 22-36 cm long, stout, tomentose, swollen at base; leaflets 7-11, opposite; petioule 3-10 mm long, stout, tomentose; lamina 7-16 x 3.5-7 cm, ovate, ovate-lanceolate, oblong-ovate or elliptic-ovate, base acute or oblique, apex acuminate, margin serrulate or crenulate, glabrous above, rusty tomentose beneath, coriaceous; lateral nerves 10-20 pairs, parallel, prominent; intercostae scalariform, prominent. Flowers polygamous, 5-6 mm across, bright yellow; in large axillary panicles; bracts cauducous; male flowers; pedicels short; calyx tube campanulate, pubescent without, 5 mm; lobes 3, 1 mm; petals 3, oblong, concave, apiculate; disc annular, to 6 lobed, apically pilose; staminal tube to 3 mm; stamens 6, free from the disc; filaments 1 to 2 mm; anthers oblong, subequal; pistillode short; bisexual flowers: pedicles elongate; calyx urceolate, 4 mm, pubescent; lobes 3, valvate; petals 3, white, 1 cm long, oblong, pubescent without; disc obscurely lobed, pilose above; staminal tube to 3 mm; filaments 0.5 mm; anthers subequal; ovary superior, to 3.5 mm, 3-celled, ovules 1 in each cell; style 1, stout; stigma capitate, 2-3 lobed. Fruit a drupe, 3.5 x 1.5 cm, ellipsoid, dark blue, 1-3-celled; seeds 1-3.

 

Habitat: Occasionally canopy trees in the evergreen forests up to 1600 m; evergreen, semi evergreen forests in the western Ghats

Distribution:  India and Myanmar; in the Western Ghats- South and Central Sahyadris.

Uses: used in Ayurveda, Folk medicine, Siddha