Description
Careya arborea is known as Slow Match Tree in English and Kumbhi of Sanskrit writers, and appear to have been so named on account of the hollow on the top of the fruit giving it somewhat the appearance of a water-pot. It is a deciduous tree, whose leaves turn red in the cold season and grows up to 15m high. Flowers are yellow or white in colour and are like water-pots and produce large green berries. The tree grows all over India in forests and grasslands. The bark of the tree and the calyxes of the flowers are often used for curing coughs and colds. Found throughout the State in the moister part, and in the ravines and valleys. It is abundant in Eturnagaram, Pasra, Tadvai forests of Warangal District. It is identified by leaves turning red in the cold season, dark grey thick bark and large showy flowers. Wild pigs are very fond of the bark, and it is used by hunters to attract them.
The fruit is edible but the seeds are reported as slightly poisonous. An astringent gum exudes from the fruit and stem, and the bark is made into coarse cordage. The bark of the tree and the calices of the flowers are well-known Indian remedies, and are valued on account of their astringent and mucilaginous properties, being administered internally in coughs and colds and applied externally as an embrocation. In fever, best wound healer-medicated oil in sinus and fresh wounds. Fruit is used as decoction to promote digestion.
