Canthium coromandelicum - Coromandel Canthium

❏ Binomial Name : Canthium coromandelicum (Burm.f.) Alston.

❏ Synonym : Canthium parviflorum, Plectronia parviflora, Paederia valli-kara, Webera tetrandra

❏ Family : Rubiaceae

❏ Common Name : Coromandel Canthium

❏ Tamil Name : Nallakkarai, Kudiram, Sengarai

❏ IUCN status: Not Evaluated

Canthium coromandelicum Botanical Description

Armed shrubs; branchlets obtusely 4-angled; bark grey; spines 1-3.2 cm long, supra-axillary. Leaves 1.8-4.2 x 1.3-3 cm, ovate, elliptic-ovate to obovate, base rounded to attenuate, apex subacute; petiole c. 5 mm long; stipules subulate. Flowers greenish, 4-merous, in axillary, sessile cymes below spines. Calyx cupular, 4-toothed. Corolla 4-5 mm across, campanulate to globose, mouth villous; lobes 4, ovate, acute, spreading or reflexed. Stamens 4, subsessile, exserted. Stigma capitate, slightly 2-lobed. Fruit 1-1.4 cm across, subglobose, yellow. Fl. &Fr.: April-June

Canthium coromandelicum Medicinal uses

❀ The fruits are eaten by birds, bear, squirrel. To remove thorns that have got into the skin, the tender leaves are boiled and tied on the infected part to remove the thorn. The bark is made into a paste with turmeric and lime and applied on the forehead to cure headache. The shoots of magarai along with the shoots of Bankini and Kakrolai are made into a paste which is applied over the body before a bath to relieve body pain.

❀ The roots and the leaves of Canthium coromandelicum are astringent, thermogenic, diuretic, febrifuge, constipating, anthelmintic and tonic.

❀ The roots and the leaves are used for snake and insect bites.

❀ A decoction of the roots and leaves is given in flu.

❀ The bark is made into a paste with turmeric and lime and applied on the forehead to cure headache.

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