Madhuca longifolia

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Madhuca longifolia
Mahuwa trees in Chhattisgarh.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
(unranked):
Angiosperms
(unranked):
Eudicots
(unranked):
Asterids
Order:
Ericales
Family:
Sapotaceae
Genus:
Madhuca
Species:
M. longifolia
Binomial name
Madhuca longifolia
Synonyms[1]
  • Bassia longifolia J.Koenig ex L. 1771, illegitimate homonym not Bassia All. 1766. (Amaranthaceae)
  • Madhuca indica
  • Madhuca latifolia

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Madhuca longifolia is an Indian tropical tree found largely in the central and north Indian plains and forests. It is commonly known as mahua, mahwa or Iluppai. It is a fast-growing tree that reaches approximately 20 meters in height, possesses evergreen or semi-evergreen foliage, and belongs to the family Sapotaceae.[2] It is adaptable to arid environments, being a prominent tree in tropical mixed deciduous forests in India in the states of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.[3]

Uses

It is cultivated in warm and humid regions for its oleaginous seeds (producing between 20 and 200 kg of seeds annually per tree, depending on maturity), flowers and wood. The fat (solid at ambient temperature) is used for the care of the skin, to manufacture soap or detergents, and as a vegetable butter. It can also be used as a fuel oil. The seed cakes obtained after extraction of oil constitute very good fertilizer. The flowers are used to produce an alcoholic drink in tropical India. This drink is also known to affect the animals.[4] Several parts of the tree, including the bark, are used for their medicinal properties.

M. longifolia in Hyderabad, India

The tree is considered a boon by the tribals who are forest dwellers and keenly conserve this tree. However, conservation of this tree has been marginalized, as it is not favoured by nontribals.[5]

The leaves of Mahua are food for the moth Antheraea paphia, which produces tassar silk, a form of wild silk of commercial importance in India.[6]

The Tamils have several uses for M. longifolia (iluppai in Tamil). The saying "aalai illaa oorukku iluppaip poo charkkarai" indicates when there is no cane sugar available, the flower of M. longifolia can be used, as it is very sweet. However, Tamil tradition cautions that excessive use of this flower will result in imbalance of thinking and may even lead to lunacy.[7]

The alkaloids in the press cake of Madhuca seeds is reportedly used in killing fishes in aquaculture ponds in some parts of India. The cake serves to fertilize the pond, which can be drained, sun dried, refilled with water and restocked with fish fingerlings.[8][9]

Mahuwa flowers

Mahua flowers

The mahuwa flower is edible and is a food item for tribals. They are used to make syrup for medicinal purposes.[3]

They are also fermented to produce the alcoholic drink mahuwa, a country liquor. Tribals of Bastar in Chhattisgarh and peoples of Orissa, Santhals of Santhal Paraganas (Jharkhand), Koya tribals of North-East Andhra Pradesh (vippa saara: విప్ప సారా) and tribals of North Maharashtra consider the tree and the mahuwa drink as part of their cultural heritage. Mahuwa is an essential drink for tribal men and women during celebrations.[10] The main ingredients used for making it are chhowa gud (granular molasses) and dried mahuwa flowers.

The liquor produced from the flowers is largely colourless, with a whitish tinge and not very strong. The taste is reminiscent of sake with a distinctive smell of mahua flowers. It is inexpensive and the production is largely done in home stills.

Mahua flowers are also used to manufacture jam, which is being made by tribal cooperatives in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra.[11]

Mahua
Mahua for sale in local market which is usually used to make wine at home.

Oil

  • Refractive index: 1.452
  • Fatty acid composition (acid, %) : palmitic (c16:0) : 24.5, stearic (c18:0) : 22.7, oleic (c18:1) : 37.0, linoleic (c18:2) : 14.3

Trifed, a web site of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India reports: "Mahuwa oil has emollient properties and is used in skin disease, rheumatism and headache. It is also a laxative and considered useful in habitual constipation, piles and haemorrhoids and as an emetic. Tribals also used it as an illuminant and hair fixer."[3]

It has also been used as biodiesel.[12]

Other names

  • Other botanical names: Bassia longifolia L., B. latifolia Roxb., Madhuca indica J. F. Gmel., M. latifolia (Roxb.) J.F.Macbr., Illipe latifolia (Roxb.) F.Muell., Illipe malabrorum (Engl.) Note: the authentic genus Bassia is in the Chenopodiaceae. The names B. longifolia and B. latifolia are illegitimate.
  • Varieties:
    • M. longifolia var. latifolia (Roxb.) A.Chev. (=B. latifolia (Roxb))
    • M. longifolia var. longifolia
  • Vernacular names:
    • Bengali:mohua
    • Oriya:"Mahula"
    • English: honey tree, butter tree
    • French: illipe, arbre à beurre, bassie, madhuca
    • India: moha, mohua, madhuca, illuppai, kuligam, madurgam, mavagam, nattiluppai, tittinam, mahwa, mahua, mowa, moa, mowrah
    • Sri Lanka: mee
  • Synonymous names for this tree in some of the Indian states are mahua and mohwa in Hindi-speaking belt, mahwa, mahula, Mahula in Oriya and maul in Bengal, mahwa and mohwro in Maharashtra, mahuda in Gujarat, ippa puvvu (Telugu: ఇప్ప) in Andhra Pradesh, ippe or hippe in Karnataka (Kannada), illupei or இலுப்பை in Tamil, poonam and ilupa in Kerala (Malayalam) and mahula, moha and modgi in Orissa (Oriya).[3]

Different views and aspects of M. longifolia var. latifolia

[13]

References

  1. ↑ Plants of the World Online: Madhuca Buch.-Ham. ex J.F.Gmel.(retrieved 27 November 2020)
  2. ↑ Pankaj Oudhia, Robert E. Paull. Butter tree Madhuca latifolia Roxb. Sapotaceae p827-828. Encyclopedia of Fruit and Nuts - 2008, J. Janick and R. E. Paull -editors, CABI, Wallingford, United Kingdom
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Dr. J.Raamachandran, HERBS OF SIDDHA MEDICINES-The First 3D Book on Herbs, pp38
  8. ↑ Keenan, G.I., 1920. The microscopical identification of mohraw meal in insecticides. J. American Pharmaceutical Assoc., Vol. IX, No. 2, pp.144-147
  9. ↑ T.V.R.Pillay and M.N.Kutty, 2005. Aquaculture: Principles and Practices. 2nd Edition. Blackwell Publishing Ltd., p.623
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Bibliography

  • Boutelje, J. B. 1980. Encyclopedia of world timbers, names and technical literature.
  • Duke, J. A. 1989. Handbook of Nuts. CRC Press.
  • Encke, F. et al. 1993. Zander: Handwörterbuch der Pflanzennamen, 14. Auflage.
  • Govaerts, R. & D. G. Frodin. 2001. World checklist and bibliography of Sapotaceae.
  • Hara, H. et al. 1978–1982. An enumeration of the flowering plants of Nepal.
  • Matthew, K. M. 1983. The flora of the Tamil Nadu Carnatic.
  • McGuffin, M. et al., eds. 2000. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2.
  • Nasir, E. & S. I. Ali, eds. 1970–. Flora of [West] Pakistan.
  • Pennington, T. D. 1991. The genera of the Sapotaceae.
  • Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) - on-line resource.
  • Saldanha, C. J. & D. H. Nicolson. 1976. Flora of Hassan district.
  • Saldanha, C. J. 1985–. Flora of Karnataka.
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