File:Kumbhi (Sanskrit- कुम्भी) (469577819).jpg

Lecythidaceae (brazil nut family) » Careya arborea

ka-RAY-ah -- named for Rev. Carey of Serampore ar-BOR-ee-uh -- meaning, tree-like

commonly known as: patana oak, slow match tree, tummy wood, wild guava • Bengali: কাংবের kamber • Gujarati: કુંભ kumbh, કુંભી kumbhi • Hindi: कूम्भी kumbhi, पीलू pilu • Kannada: ಕವಳ kaval • Konkani, in Goa: कोंब्यो kombyo • Malayalam: പേഴ് peezh • Marathi: कुंभी kumbhi • Nepalese: कूम्भी kumbhi • Sanskrit: कुम्भः kumbha, कूम्भी kumbhi, कटभि katabhi • Tamil: ஆவிமா avima, கம்பி kampi, கும்பி kumpi, பேழைமரம் pelaimaram • Telugu: కుమ్భూ kumbhi

Native to: India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand

Kumbhi is a medium sized deciduous tree, up to 20 m tall, the leaves of which turn red in the cold season.

Bark surface flaking in thin strips, fissured, dark grey; crown spreading.

Leaves arranged spirally, often clustered at the apices of twigs, simple, broadly obovate, tapering at base, margin crenate-denticulate; stipules small, caducous.

Flowers in a terminal, erect raceme, bisexual, large, white; calyx 4-lobed, coriaceous; petals 4, free; stamens many, connate at base; disk annular; ovary inferior, 4-5-locular with many ovules in two rows per cell, style one. They emit foetid smell; appear in March and April when trees are without leaves.

Fruit, a large (5 to 6.5 cms in dia), rind thick, many-seeded drupe, globose to depressed globose, crowned by the persistent sepals. Seedling with hypogeal germination; cotyledons absent (seed containing a swollen hypocotyl); shoot with scales at the first few nodes.

It occurs both on alluvial soils and loams. It also occurs on latiritic soils. It is a fire resistant species. It is a good coppicer.

Medicinal use: The bark of the tree and the calices of the flowers are well-known Indian remedies, and are valued on account of their astringent and mucilaginous properties, being administered internally in coughs and colds and applied externally as an embrocation.