Scientific Name: Artocarpus hirsutus Lam.

Synonyms: Artocarpus pubescens Willd., Saccus hirsutus (Lam.) Kuntze  

Unique ID: 23

Systematic Position

Class: Dicotyledonae

Sub Class: Monochlamydeae                     

Series: Unisexulaes

Family: Moraceae

Common Names

English – Wildjack, Aini

Malayalam – ആഞ്ഞിലി

Tamil – Ayanipila, Anjili

Description: Evergreen trees, to 50 m high, bark 10-15 mm thick, surface dull grey-brown, smooth, lenticellate, exfoliations thin, exfoliated surface red, fibrous; blaze creamy turning to pinkish-yellow; exudation milky white, sticky, branchlets hirsute. Leaves simple, alternate; stipules to 4 cm long, lateral, densely tawny strigose; petiole 10-30 mm long, stout, hirsute; lamina 13-25 x 7.5-15 cm, broadly ovate, obovate or elliptic, base acute, obtuse or round, apex subacute or very shortly acuminate, margin entire, undulate, coriaceous, glabrous above, hirsute-pubescent beneath; lateral nerves 6-12 pairs, pinnate, prominent; intercostae scalariform, faint. Flowers unisexual, minute, yellowish-green; male in axillary, pendulous, narrowly cylindric spikes upto 15 cm long; tepals 2, united below; stamen 1; anther exserted, ovate, bracteoles chaffy; female flowers in axillary ovoid spikes; perianth tubular, confluent below with the receptacle; ovary superior, straight, ovule pendulous; style exserted; stigma undivided. Fruit a sorosis 6-7.5 cm across, globose or ovoid, echinate, yellow when ripe, the spines cylindric, straight, hispid, perforate at the apex for filiform style; seeds 16-18 mm long, ovoid, white.

Habitat: Semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forests, also in the plains

Distribution: Endemic to the Western Ghats- South, Central and Maharashtra Sahyadris. origin is probably South India

Uses: Medicinal : Leaf,Seed ; Food: Fruit,Seed ; Fodder: goat,cattle,sheep; Good fuelwood; Pest management: Leaf ; Wind break, Culturally significant, Green manure, Timber, Implements