Madhuca longifolia (L.) J.F.Macbr.
Scientific Name: Madhuca longifolia (L.) J.F.Macbr.
Family: Sapotaceae
Common Name: Indian Butter Tree
Hindi Name: महुआ
Description: The Mohua is one of India's most important forest trees, not for its valuable timber - and it is almost never felled for this purpose - but because its flowers are delicious and nutritious. It is a vigorous tree and for the people of central India it provides their most important food, as the flowers can be kept almost indefinitely. It is tall and deciduous with thick gray bark that splits and wrinkles vertically. Most leaves fall from February to April, when the musk flowers appear. They hang in groups at the end of gnarled gray branches.
The stems are green or pink, variegated and about 5 cm long. High. The plum-colored calyx, also variegated, is divided into four or five lobes; inside is a spherical, thick, succulent, creamy-white crown. The yellow anthers are visible through small eye holes at the top. The stamens are short and cling to the inner face of the corolla; the drumstick is a long protruding green tongue. The tree blooms at night, and at dawn each fleeting flower falls to the ground. After a few months of flowering, the fruit opens. They are fleshy green berries that are very large and contain one to four shiny brown seeds.
Medicinal uses: This tree is very valuable for medicinal purposes. The bark was used to treat leprosy and heal wounds, the flowers were used to relieve coughs, bile and heart problems, and the fruit was used to treat lung diseases and blood disorders.