Plant Name Careya arborea
Common name:
Marathi: Kumbha
Hindi: Kumbhi
English: Wild Guava
Jawhar: Kumbha
Interesting facts and history
Wild Guava is a medium sized deciduous tree, up to 20 m tall, the leaves of which turn red in the cold season. It is the Kumbhi of Sanskrit writers, and appear to have been so named on account of the hollow on the top of the fruit giving it somewhat the appearance of a water-pot.
Wild pigs are very fond of the bark, and that it is used by hunters to attract them. he Tamil name Puta-tanni-maram signifies ”water- bark-tree,” in allusion to the exudation trickling down the bark in dry weather
Identification guide
General
Small trees, to 12 m high
Bark
Rugged, Bark thick, brownish, rough, exfoliations small, more or less triangular
Leaves
Inflorescences terminal spikes, 8-15 cm long
Flowers
sessile or subsessile, yellow or white in colour that become large green berries
Fruits
ovoid-globose, to 5-6 cm long by c. 5 cm wide, crowned by persistent adpressed sepals
Habit / Habitat
Scattered but locally common in primary or secondary, evergreen or deciduous, slightly seasonal forest, sometimes in more open country and along forest edges. It is absent from perhumid rain forest.
Occurrence
The tree grows throughout India in forests and grasslands.
Throughout India, Pakistan, Nepal,Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, Laos. Throughout Odisha.
Edible parts
World wide use: The fruit is edible, but the seeds are reported as slightly poisonous. The fruit is a capsule up to 6cm in diameter with a leathery skin and a fleshy pulp.
Used by tribal community in Jawhar: Leaves and Flowers
Method of consumption
Other Recipe
Kumbhi fruits are edible. The ripe fruits are highly aromatic and people like to eat them out of hand. Sometimes these are also cooked to make other preparations
Medicinal use
The juice of the bark, and the calices of the flowers, are astringent and mucilaginous. They are often used internally in India for treating coughs and colds, and are applied externally as an embrocation.
Nutritional and medicinal information
The fruit is edible, but the seeds are reported as slightly poisonous.
The fruit is a capsule up to 6cm in diameter with a leathery skin and a fleshy pulp
The fibrous bark has been applied medicinally for relieving body swellings.
An astringent gum exudes from the fruit and stem.
The pulped leaves are used as a poultice.
The bark of the tree and the sepals of the flowers are well-known Indian remedies, and are valued on account of their astringent and mucilaginous properties, being administered internally in coughs and colds and applied externally as an embrocation."
Harvesting and preserving
Prefers a well-drained, sandy or even rocky soil. Requires a sunny position.
In India the annual diameter increment can be up to 0.5 cm, but growth of coppice is faster, 0.6 - 0.9 cm in diameter for 8-year-old coppice shoots.
The tree is highly fire resistant and coppices well
Propagation and Storage
New plants of kumbhi are raised from seed which germinate within 4-6 weeks. This tree is highly fire resistant. It also coppices well.
In India the annual diameter increment can be up to 0.5 cm, but growth of coppice is faster.
Other uses
The fibrous bark contains a brown dye.
The bark yields a good fiber that is used locally for coarse cordage. It is also suitable for making brown paper and is used as a slow match to ignite gunpowder.
The bark is a source of tannins.
A gum is obtained from the tree.
The tree yields a medium-weight to heavy hard wood with a density of 770 kg/m cubic to over 1000 kg/m cubic at 15% moisture content. Heartwood pale red to dark red-brown in older trees, sapwood wide, pale reddish-white; grain straight; texture medium and even. Shrinkage of the wood is very high, so it should be seasoned slowly as it easily develops surface checks, end splits, and is very liable to warp and twist It is moderately hard and somewhat difficult to saw, but presents no difficulties when worked with hand and machine tools. It yields a smooth finish and a good polish. The wood is durable, especially under water.
The wood is used, mainly in India and Myanmar, for general construction (house posts, planking), furniture and cabinet work, carts, mouldings, turnery, piling and agricultural implements.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Sermatophyta
Sub-division: Angiospermae
Class: Dioctyledonae
Sub-Class: Polypetalae
Series: Calyciflorae
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Genus : Careya
Species : arborea
References
http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Wild%20Guava.html
http://pareshkale.blogspot.com/2015/02/wild-guava-kumbha-careya-arborea.html
http://portal.cybertaxonomy.org/flora-malesiana/node/9106
http://www.haryanaforestflora.in/specimen/view/243
http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Careya+arborea
http://www.rprcbbsr.com/view/Downloads/news/Careya%20arborea%207%209%2015.pdf
http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Careya_arborea#/References"
http://www.fruitipedia.com/kumbhi_careya_arborea.htm