Common Name : Bishop Wood
Hindi Name : भिल्लर | Scientific Name : Bischofia javanica
Family : Phyllanthaceae
Uses : The tree is used for reforestation and is often intercropped in traditional agriculture. It is considered to be an excellent shade tree in coffee and cardamom plantations. Young soft leaves are eaten raw or cooked as salads, vegetable and condiment. The plant has shown to have antiulcer, anthelmintic and antidysentery activities. The fresh bark is used to treat aching stomachs. The sap of the bark, mixed with lime, is used to treat sore feet. The leaves and the young shoots are an effective treatment for leucorrhoea, vulvovaginitis, and boils. A decoction of the dried leaves is an effective treatment for diarrhoea. A red dye obtained from the bark is used to stain rattan baskets. A brown dye obtained from the inner bark is used to colour tapa bark cloth. The bark contains about 16% tannin that is used in the toughening of nets and ropes. The wood is used for general construction of beams, posts, bridges, decking, sleepers, mining props, flooring, interior finish, veneer, plywood, implements, carving etc. The tree is a potential source of long fibres for pulp and paper production.
Native: Tropical Asia
General Description: It is an evergreen or semi-evergreen woody tree with a maximum height of 40m and diameter of 2.3m. The relatively short trunk is erect, but branches are low. Though coarse at maturity, the bark is nearly smooth, greyish brown to brown, and 1cm thick, and contains a red milky sap that becomes a resinous semi-solid when dried. Leaves are trifoliate, rarely palmate, with stalk 8-20cm in length. Each papery leaflet may be ovate, elliptic, subovate, or elliptic-ovate, 7-15cm long and 4-8cm wide, pointed and broadly wedge-shaped to obtuse at base, with two to three teeth per centimetre along the serrated margin. The stalk of the terminal leaflet is 2-5cm in length, while that of lateral leaflet is 5-20mm. Small greenish-yellow flowers are borne on dioecious panicles in leaf axils. The male inflorescence is 8-13cm long and pubescent to glabrous, while the female inflorescence is 15-17cm long and pendant. Appearing in August to October, berry-like fruits are light brown, globular or sub-globular, 6-13mm in diameter, containing oblong seeds 5mm in length.