Alangium salvifolium

• Botanical Name : Alangium salvifolium (L.f.) Wangerin
• Common Name : Ankol, Ankoli, Sage Leaved Alangium
• Plant Family : Cornaceae

• Originally the plant was placed in Cornaceae by Bentham and Hooker but some of the views place it under Alangiaceae which is treated as separate from the family Cornaceae.

• Plant Form : Tree
• Occurrence (Special Areas) : Indroda Park, Van Chetana Kendra

About Alangium salvifolium Plant :

• Habit : Tall, thorny tree.
• Stem : Erect, cylindrical, branched, solid with ash - coloured, rough and faintly fissured bark.
• Leaves : Elliptic - oblong, elliptic - lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate.
• Flowers : Greenish - white, fascicled, axillary.
• Fruits : Berries 1.3 - 1.6 cm long, ovoid, ellipsoid or nearly globose, glabrous, smooth, violet to deep - purple.
• Flowering and Fruiting time : Feb - Apr, Apr - June.
• Significance :
  • The fruit though astringent and acidic, is eaten.
  • The wood is hard, tough and close - grained and is valuable as fuel.