Plant Name: Sterculia guttata Roxb. ex G.Don
Common name
Marathi: Dauda, Goldada, kukar
Hindi: Hirik
English: Bloody drop ordure tree
Jawhar: Dauda, Goldada, kukar
Interesting facts and history
It is a larval host plant for Coladenia indrani (Himalayan Tricolor Pied Flat butterfly)
Identification guide
General
Spotted Sterculia is a tree with a straight greyish-brown trunk. Trunk\bark and when mature blaze pink in color
Leaves
Leaves are hairless above, velvety beneath, oblong-ovate acute or acuminate. Leaf base is rounded or nearly heart-shaped.
Flowers
Flower panicles are sparingly branched. Buds are spherical and are chiefly male. Sepal tube 1/3 inches densely rusty hairy outside, glandular within, bell-shaped, divided into 5; segments broadly ovate-acute, ultimately reflexed, covered with long hairs. Flowers are yellow, with purple glands on the inside of the petals. Anthers 12, Ovary stalked, spherical, 3-5-lobed. Style curved, stigma 3-5 lobed. Follicles 1-5, size of a small apple, each about 3 inches, obovoid, covered with reddish down, smooth, pink within.
Habit / Habitat
Deciduous Tree, Mostly found in evergreen and in semi-evergreen forests along river side or rocky bed.
Occurrence
1) Availability of the plant species in India: Assam, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala), Andamans
2) Global distribution: Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar [Burma] (Taninthayi), Laos, Vietnam
Edible parts
Used by tribal community in Jawhar Seeds
Method of consumption
Jawhar tribal
Roasted seeds are consumed directly.
Nutritional and medicinal information
Nutritive Significance:
The proximate composition of seed was evaluated and the results in Percentage Dry matter (DM) are: Crude Protein 21.40 ± 0.4, Crude Lipid 11.58± 0.2, Crude Fibre 7.73±0.5, Carbohydrate 21.03±0.4, Moisture Content 16.42±0.2
Mineral composition3 was as follows (mg/100gm of DM)
Calcium 108.00±0.4, Potassium 105±0.5, Magnesium 59±0.2, Manganese (ppm) 19.66±0.5, Zinc (ppm) 18.74±0.3, Copper(ppm) 8.69±0.5, Iron (ppm) 27.12±0.4, Sodium 28.41±0.5
Pharmaceutical significance
- The crude extract of shade dried, powdered seeds of Sterculia guttata was obtained using a Soxhlet extractor with ethanol. Later ethanol was removed under reduced pressure. This extract was evaluated for its effect on behavioral changes, exploratory activity and barbiturate-sleeping time, using appropriate standard methods in mice. The extract exhibited dose-dependent CNS depressant activity . Hence it could be useful for treating anxiety and sleep disorders.
- The larvicidal activity of the ethanol, chloroform and hexane soxhlet extracts was tested against Dengue fever vector, Aedes aegypti and filarial vector Culex quinquefasciatus. All extracts exhibited 100 per cent larval kill within 24 hours exposure period. Thus, it has a strong potential activity.
Harvesting and preserving
Seeds could be roasted and preserved for further consumption.
Propagation and Storage
Season of collection:
Flowering: December
How to grow it?
Soak the seeds, and remove the aril surrounding the seed. Allow them to germinate and plant in pots. Germination rate is 2 weeks maximum and germinate optimally at temperatures between 20 - 30°C. Once the sapling is stabilised in pot, plant it outside.
Method of storage:
Seeds
Other uses
- A useful fibre, used locally, is obtained from the bark of wild trees. The bark of the younger parts of the tree abounds with very strong, white, flaxen fibre which is used to make a kind of coarse cloth .
- Extracts from its seeds have been tested for use as insecticides against mosquito larvae.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Sermatophyta
Sub-division Angiospermae
Class: Dioctyledonae
Sub-Class: Polypetalae
Series: Calyiflorae
Order: Malvales
Family: Sterculiaceae
Genus: Stercularia
Species: guttata
References
1 http://www.biotik.org/india/species/s/stergutt/stergutt_en.html
2 http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Spotted%20Sterculia.html
3 http://docsdrive.com/pdfs/ansinet/pjbs/2008/139-141.pdf (http://www.oalib.com/paper/2102577#.Vs1NL_l97IU )
4 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2865820/
5 http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Sterculia+guttata
6 http://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/larval-host-plants/765/Sterculia-guttata