Wrightia tinctoria (Roxb.) R.Br.

Family: Apocynaceae

Taxonomy: Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Gentianales > Apocynaceae > Wrightia > W. tinctoria

Common name [English]: Pala Indigo, Dyer's Oleander, Sweet indrajao

Vernacular name [Malayalam]: ധന്തപാല

Nativity: India

Habitat: Moist and dry deciduous forests, also in the plains.

Description: Deciduous trees; up to 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, inserted 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, connate at one end.

Flowering and fruiting: February-November

Uses: The flowers,leaves,fruits and seeds are edible.Live fence, Culturally significant, Green manure, Timber, Implements, Tanning and dyeing

Cultivation: Ornamental, Wild.

References

http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org

https://indiabiodiversity.org