Sapotaceae

Native: South India and Sri Lanka

Systematic Position

Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Streptophyta

Order: Ericales

Family:Sapotaceae

Common Names

English –  Illipe Butter Tree

Malayalam –   ഇലിപ്പ

Description Evergreen trees, to 15 m high, bark dark brown to grey, deeply; latex milky. Leaves simple, alternate, crowded at the tip of branchlets, elliptic-lanceolate, margin entire, glossy. Flowers bisexual, yellowish white, in axillary subterminal fascicles. Calyx tube ovate-acute. Corolla lobes 8-10, campanulate. Stamens 16-20 in 2 rows, anthers linear, filaments short, villous; anthers lanceolate. Ovary oblong, superior, 6-8 celled; ovules 1 in each cell. Fruit a berry, ellipsoid, beaked; seed one, pale brown and shining.

Distribution:  India and Sri Lanka.

Uses: Flowers are used in renal diseases. Fruits are antirheumatic, antibilious, antiasthmatic, anthelmintic. Seed oil used for hair growth.