Hydnocarpus kurzii

Scientific name: Hydnocarpus kurzii (King) Warb.

Family: Flacourtiaceae

Synonym: Taraktogenos kurzii King 

Bengali/Vernacular name: Chalmugra, Chaulmugra (Bengali); Dulmugra (Sylhet).

Tribal name: Balgach (Chakma), Tanu panu (Mogh).

English name: Chaulmugra.

Description of the plant: A medium-sized evergreen tree, 12-15 m high. Leaves thinly coriaceous, entire, 18-25 cm long, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate. Flowers in axillary cymes; petals 8, in 2-rows, broadly ovate, ciliate. Fruit, size of an orange, tawny-velvety, pericarp reddish-brown.

Plant parts used: Bark, seed.

Ethnomedicinal uses: A paste is made with the bark of the plant, after warming it is applied on the tumour once a day until the disease is cured.

Juice extracted from the bark of the plant is administered for the treatment of fever.

Seeds yield chaulmoogra oil, which is used in leprosy and other skin diseases.

Distribution: The species occurs rarely in the greater districts of Sylhet, Chittagong, and Chittagong Hill Tracts.

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