Nag kesar/Nahor (Mesua ferrea): characteristics, distribution & habitat, medicinal uses and wood

Описание: #nahor #nagkesar #nagchampa #heartwood #ornamental #evergreen #herbalmedicine #fragrance #incensestick #lighting #seedoils #timber

Nag kesar or Nag Champa is a widely cultivated tree species for ornamental, medicinal and oil yielding seeds. Nag kesar is an important medicinal plant which has been used for thousands of years in Ayurveda. Vernacular or common names of this tree are Nag-kesar (Tel.), Nageshwar (Beng.), Nahor (Assam), Nagchampa(Mar.), Naga sampige (Kan.) and Ceylon Iron wood ( Eng.). The botanical name of this tree is Mesua ferrea in the family Calophyllaceae and native to the Indomalayan realm. It is widely cultivated as an ornamental tree for it's graceful shape, with beautiful pink to red flush of drooping young leaves and large fragrant flowers.

Morphological characteristics:
It is a large evergreen tree, upto 30 m or more in height, with trunk upto 2m in diameter; heartwood drk red and hard. The bark of young trees has an ash grey color with flaky peelings, whereas old trees bark is dark ash grey with red brown blaze. Leaves opposite, narrow oblong to lanceolate, coriaceous, upper surface is shinning and underside covered with a white wax like powder. Flowers bisexual, solitary, nearly sessile. Stamens many, orange yellow in colour. Fruit is an ovoid to globose capsule, with 1-2 seeds.
Distribution and habitat:
It is native to wet tropical parts of Sri Lanka, India, Southern Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Indochina, Malaysia and Sumatra where it grows in evergreen forests especially in river valleys. In the Eastern Himalayas and Western Ghats in India it grows upto 1500m altitude.
Uses: timber, medicinal, incens and seed oil value for lighting :
The wood of this tree is very hard and strong as the English name indicates.
The flowers, leaves, seeds and roots are used as herbal medicines in India, Malaysia, Myanmar, etc. And also sold in market as Nag Champa incens sticks.
In northeastern states of Assam, Mizoram, Tripura, in India, it's seeds were used to be used for lighting purpose in evening for day to day purpose before the introduction of kerosene by British.