Artocarpus lacucha

Scientific name: Artocarpus lacucha Buch.-Ham.

Family: Moraceae

Synonym:  Artocarpus lakoocha Roxb.

Bengali/Vernacular name: Dewa, Dewphal (Bengali); Dewa-cham (Sylhet); Barta (Chittagong).

Tribal name: Bhorta gula (Chakma), Momichi (Chak), Mialo (Mogh), Armu (Garo), Thabeyou (Khumi), Maw-kong-sthei (Rakhaing), Malungbang (Marma).

English name: Monkey jack.

Description of the plant: A medium-sized, deciduous tree with large dense spreading crown, young shoots villous tomentose. Leaves simple, alternate, petiolate, petioles 1.0-2.5 cm long, densely covered with bristles; leaf blade broadly elliptic, sometimes pinnately lobed, abaxially with bristles, adaxially coarse, base broadly cuneate to obtuse, margin entire or with small teeth, apex obtuse. Plant monoecious; male receptacle almost sessile, hairy; female receptacle pedunculate, irregularly lobed velvety. Fruit a syncarp, globose, irregularly lobed, orange-red when ripe, soft and fleshy. Seeds white, oblong.

Plant parts used: Leaf.

Medicinal uses: Leaves juice is used for the treatment of cough, flatulence, worm and urination problem.

Distribution: Grows wild in the forests of Chittagong, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Cox’s Bazar, Noakhali, Sylhet, Dhaka, Mymensingh and also planted in the villages throughout the country.

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