acmdu1881@americancollege.edu.in 0452-2530070
acmdu1881@americancollege.edu.in 0452-2530070
Campus Trees

Polyalthia longifolia

நெட்டிலிங்கம்

Family:  Annonaceae

Common Names: Vansulam, Ashok, False Ashok, Mast Tree

Flowering Period: March – August

Description

  • Ashok is native to India and Sri Lanka.
  • The weeping, branching habit of this 25-foot-tall tree gives it a narrow columnar shape. Glossy green, long, narrow leaves have attractive wavy edges.
  • Ashok is commonly seen as a lofty column, very graceful with its downward-sweeping branchlets and shining, green foliage; but sometimes wide-spreading slender branches issue from the straight trunk and form a compact symmetrical crown.
  • The bark is smooth and dark greyish brown. For a short the tree is covered with a profusion of delicate, star-like flowers, which, being palest-green in colour, give the tree a peculiar hazy appearance.
  • They grow in clusters from small protuberances all along the dark branchlets.
  • Each flower, borne on a slim, green stem has a tiny calyx and six long, narrow, wavy petals arranged in two sets of three.

Uses                                                                     

  • Food (Herb and Spice)
  • Leaf extracts have anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. Bark used in Ayurvedic medicine to treat fever, diabetes, hypertension and intestinal worms.
  • Wood used to make pencils, boxes, matches and drum cylinders.
  • Tall straight trunks used to make masts of sailing ships.