Scientific Name: Wrightia tinctoria R.Br.

Synonyms: Allamanda verticillata Desf. 

Unique ID: 145

Systematic Position

Class: Dicotyledonae

Sub Class: Gamopetalae                        

Series: Bicarpellatae

Order: Gentianales

Family: Apocynaceae

Common Names

English – Pala Indigo, Dyer’s Oleander

Malayalam – കമ്പിപ്പാല

Tamil – Irum-palai

Description: Deciduous trees; upto 15 m; bark 8-10 mm thick, grey, smooth; outer layer thin, inner layer thick, brittle, creamy; blaze greenish-yellow; latex milky white. Leaves simple, opposite, distichous, estipulate; petiole 2-5 mm long, stout, glabrous; lamina 3.5-11 x 2-4 cm, oblong-lanceolate or elliptic-ovate; base acute; apex acuminate or caudate acuminate; margin entire, glabrous, glaucous beneath, chartaceous; lateral nerves 5-10 pairs, slender, arched, pinnate, prominent, intercostae reticulate. Flower bisexual, white, scented, in terminal cymes appearing along with new leaves; pedicel 1.5 mm long, bracts 2, minute; calyx lobes 5, with membranous margin, 2 mm, ovate, obtuse, ciliate, glandular inside; corolla salver shaped, lobes 5, broad lobes 12 x 5 mm, oblong, obtuse, throat with 1-2 series of erect, fimbriate corona scales, tube 1.5-2 mm; stamens 5, insrerted on the mouth of the tube, anthers sagitate, spurred at base, conniving and adhering to the stigma; disc absent; carpels 2, free, many ovuled, style filiform, stigma ovoid, usually with a toothed basal ring. Fruit of 2 follicular mericarps, 15-45 cm long, slender, smooth, green, cylindric, cohering at the tip; seed 16 mm long, black, commate at one end. Flowering and fruiting: February-November

Habitat: Very common in plains, scrub jungles and deciduous forests of hills upto 1500m. 

Distribution: India, Myanmar and Timor

Uses:  Live fence, Culturally significant, Green manure, Timber, Implements, Tanning and dyeing ; Medicinal : Bark,Leaf,Fruit,Seed