Crescentia cujete L. | |
Bignoniaceae | |
Tiruvottukkay | |
| Botanical Name | Crescentia cujete L. |
| Synonyms | Crescentia acuminata. Kunth.; Crescentia angustifolia Willd. ex Seem.; Crescentia arborea Raf. |
| Family | Bignoniaceae |
| Common Name | English: Calabash Tree, Beggar’s Bowl Tree / Tamil: Tiruvottukay |
| Distribution | Global: Central America, South America, Africa and India Indian: Southern India and Northeast India |
| Description | Smal evergreen tree up to 10 m height, bark grey, fissured. Leaves simple, entire, oblanceolate, alternate, subsessile. Inflorescence Solitary or paired in trunk. Flowers greenish white or greenish yellow to purplish streaks, pentamerous, bisexual, zygomorphic, hypogynous, calyx 5 lobed, cup shaped, Persistent, petals 5 lobed and each lobed highly dissected at tip, united large. Stamens 4 epipetalous, filament longer, dydenomous. Ovary round conical, glabrous, style curved, stigma bifurcated. Fruit berries with hard woody shell, ovate. Seed small, wingless embedded in pulp. |
| Flowering Fruiting period | May -July / June - September |
| Uses | Dry fruit shell commonly used as bowls and containers. Ornamental in Garden. Seeds yield oil. |
| Medicinal Uses | Plant used for the treatment of hypertension, diarrhoea, respiratory ailments, stomach troubles, cancer and snake bite. |
| Tamil Name | Tiruvottukkay |