Heritiera fomes

Scientific name: Heritiera fomes Buch.-Ham.

Family: Sterculiaceae

Synonym: Heritiera minor (Gaertn.) Roxb.

Bengali/Vernacular name: Sundori.

English name: Sunder.

Description of the plant: A medium-sized mangrove tree, 15-18 m tall, branches covered with shining golden-brown scales. Leaves simple, 10-16 cm long, alterrnate, elliptic-lanceolate, base rounded, apex acute, glabrous above, adpressed scaly beneath. Flowers small, unisexual, in axillary panicles. Fruit a cluster of woody, indehiscent, keeled, or winged ripe carpel.

Plant parts used: Bark.

Ethnomedicinal uses: The bark is used in relief of pain and control diabetes.

The bark of the plant is used for the treatment of gastrointestinal disease including diarrhoea, dysentery, and stomachache.

Paste prepared from the bark of the plant is applied on affected part of the body to treat eczema, abscesses, boils, and scabies. 

The plant is used in jaundice and hepatitis.

Distribution: It is found in the forests of the Sundarban, Chakaria Sundarbans, and other coastal areas.

Is this plant misidentified? If yes, please tell us….