Dear Dinesh ji, This tree thrives as an ornamental tree in many tropical cities in the world.Tropical almond is a large deciduous stately tree, originally from India, growing up to 90 feet tall with horizontal whorls of branches offering clusters of foot long; obviate leaves that turn pink-red to red - yellow before falling.Some of the pigments responsible for this are: violaxanthin, lutein and zeaxanthin. There are also flavonoids present such as quercetin and kamferol.The leaves contain also tannins (s. a. punicalin, punicalagin and tercatein). The greenish - white female - and male flowers are on the same tree; these flowers are inconspicuous and not very showy.It has large (2 - 3 inches) nutty fruits that taste very much like commercially grown almonds.The color of the oval fruit is green, yellow or reddish. In Taiwan the fallen leaves of tropical almond are used as an herbal drug in the treatment of liver related diseases.
The leaves contain agents for chemo-prevention of cancer and probably have anticarciogenic potential.They also have an anticlastogenic effect (a process which causes breaks in chromosomes) due to their antioxidant properties.The kernel of Indian almond has shown aphrodisiac activity; it can probably be used in treatment of some forms of sexual inadequacies (premature ejaculation). Ethanol extract of the leaves shown potential in the treatment of sickle cell disorders. Tropical almond is also used by breeders of tropical aquarium fishes to keep them healthy. These include bettas, catfishes and black water tetras. Since tropical almond has antibacterial properties, it is excellent in this regard. Regards Tanay On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 10:24 PM, Dinesh Valke <[email protected]>wrote: > Combretaceae (rangoon creeper family) » *Terminalia catappa* (syn. *Phytolacca > javanica*) > > > ter-min-NAY-lee-uh -- from Latin *terminus* (end), referring to leaves at > the end of shoots > kuh-TAP-uh -- from the Malayan name for the Indian Almond > > *commonly known as*: atafa, Barbados almond, bastard almond, Bengal > almond, country almond, demarara almond, false kamani, Fijian almond, Indian > almond, Java almond, Malabar almond, Malay almond, myrobalan, sea almond, > Singapore almond, story tree, tavola nut, tropical almond, umbrella tree, > West Indian almond, white bombway, wild almond • Bengali: badam • Hindi: > बादाम badam, देसी बादाम desi-badam, जंगली बादाम jangli-badam • Kannada: > taree • Marathi: बादाम badam, बंगाली बादाम bengali badam • Sanskrit: बाताम > batam • Tamil: இங்குதி inguti • Telugu: బాదము badamu > > *Native of*: w Indian Ocean, s e China, e Asia, ¿ India ?, Indo-China, > Malesia, n Australia, s-w Pacific; widely naturalized / cultivated in > tropics > > * > References*: > Flowers of India ... > http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Indian%20Almond.html > • NPGS / GRIN ... > http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?36334 > • DDSA ... http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/ > > > ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ > ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ > Views attached from: > ... Vaghbil, Thane > > > Wondering about this plant's nativity to India; perhaps only cultivated ... > do not whether it grows wild in our country. > > > > Regards. > -- Tanay Bose +91(033) 25550676 (Resi) 9830439691(Mobile) 9674221362 (Mobile) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix?hl=en.
