Bio Diversity Park

Common Name : Indian Butter Tree

Hindi Name : महुआ | Scientific Name : Madhuca longifolia var. latifolia
Family : Sapotaceae
Uses : Eye diseases, impotency can be cured by using mahua flowers. The flowers are good analgesic, diuretic, aphrodisiac, demulcent, astringent and cooling. Mahua flower juice is a good cure for skin diseases. The fruits are used as astringent, lotion for chronic ulcer, in treatment of tonsillitis. The mahua oil is consumed in cooking, for preparing margarine, hair oil, soap, burning lamps. The timber is used in construction of houses, cartwheels, doors. It is a good source for nitrogen fixation. Various parts of the tree are used as fodder for cattle, as fertilizer as intercrop. The stems of mahua are used for the treatment of debility, diabetes, snake-bite, arthritis, tuberculosis, cholera, paralysis, low semen count, tonsillitis, influenza, piles and sinusitis.
Native: Indian Subcontinent
General Description:

It is a tree of abundant growth and, to the people of Central India, it provides their most important article of food as the flowers can be stored almost indefinitely. It is large and deciduous with a thick, grey bark, vertically cracked and wrinkled. Most of the leaves fall from February to April, and during that time the musky-scented flowers appear. They hang in close bunches of a dozen or so from the end of the gnarled, grey branchlets. The stalks are green or pink and furry, about 5cm long. The plum-coloured calyx is also furry and divides into 4 or 5 lobes; within them lies the globular corolla, thick, juicy and creamy white. Through small eyelet holes at the top, the yellow anthers can be seen. The stamens are very short and adhere to the inner surface of the corolla; the pistil is a long, protruding green tongue. It is at night that the tree blooms and at dawn each short-lived flower falls to the ground. A couple of months after the flowering period the fruit opens. They are fleshy, green berries, quite large and containing from 1-4 shiny, brown seeds.