Mesua ferrea, the Ceylon ironwood, or cobra saffron,
Vernacular Names
In the Indian subcontinent,
Mesua ferrea is known by various vernacular names. In Hindi and Sanskrit, it is called
Nagkesar (नागकेसर). In Tamil, it is known as
Vagai (வாகை); in Telugu,
Nagakesaramu (నాగకేశరము); in Kannada,
Nagakesara (ನಾಗಕೇಸರ); in Malayalam,
Naagappoo (നാഗപ്പൂ); and in Bengali,
Nagkeshar (নাগকেশর).
Taxonomy
The species was first published in
Carl Linnaeus's book ''Species Plantarum on page 515 in 1753.
Mesua ferrea is a Species complex species and had been split into several species and varieties.
These authors list Mesua ferrea as a separate species, that is endemic to Sri Lanka and is a small, 15 meters high tree that grows near streams and in marshes in the southwest of Sri Lanka, where it is called "Diya Na" in Sinhala language, meaning "Water Na Tree". This "Diya Na" is not cultivated.
Kostermans and Gunatilleke et al. classify Mesua ferrea in the family Clusiaceae, while in the AgroForestryTree Database it is allocated to the Guttiferae.
Varieties
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Mesua ferrea var. coromandeliana
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Mesua ferrea var. ferrea
Description
The tree can grow over tall, often buttressed at the base with a trunk up to in diameter. The bark of younger trees has an ash grey color with flaky peelings, while of old trees the bark is dark ash-grey with a red-brown blaze. It has simple, opposite, narrow, oblong to lanceolate, blue-grey to dark green leaves that are long and wide, with a whitish underside. The emerging young leaves are red to yellowish pink and drooping. The branches are slender, terete and glabrous. The bisexual
are in diameter, with four white petals and a center of numerous orange yellow stamens. The fruit is an ovoid to globose capsule with one to two seeds.
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Distribution and habitat
It is native to wet, tropical parts of Sri Lanka, India, southern Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Indochina, the Philippines, Malaysia and Sumatra, where it grows in evergreen forests, especially in river valleys. In the eastern Himalayas and Western Ghats in India it grows up to elevations of , while in Sri Lanka up to .
In culture and heritage
History of the tree in Sri Lanka
In the dry zone of Sri Lanka, where ironwood trees normally do not grow wild, large, old ironwood trees can be seen around the remains of ancient Buddhist monasteries on rocky hills around Dambulla such as Na Uyana Aranya, Namal Uyana, Na-golla Aranya, Pidurangala near Sigiriya, Kaludiya Pokuna near Kandalama, and Ritigala. They are probably the descendants of trees planted as ornamentals in the monasteries in ancient times during the Anuradhapura period. Older trees form suckers or shoots from the base of the trunk, which become new trees when the old trunk falls down; therefore the bases and roots of some ironwood trees in these sites might be very old.
Buddhism
In Theravada Buddhism, this tree is said to have used as the tree for achieved enlightenment, or Bodhi by four past : Mangala (මංගල), Sumana (සුමන), Revata (රේවත), and Sobhitha (සෝභිත).
Buddhists believe that the next Buddha Maitreya will also awaken under this tree. In Buddhist texts, it is often called nāgapuṣpa in Sanskrit and (龍華樹 lónghuā shù) in Chinese.
Uses
As the English name indicates, the wood of this tree is very heavy, hard and strong. The density is 940 to 1,195 kg/m3 (59 to 75 lb/ft3) at 15% moisture content. The colour is deep dark red. It is hard to saw and is mainly used for railroad ties and heavy structural timber.
In Sri Lanka the pillars of the 14th century Embekke Shrine near Kandy are made of iron tree wood.
The flowers, leaves, seeds and roots are used as herbal medicines in India, Malaysia, etc.[ and in Nag Champa incense sticks.
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In the northeastern state of Assam, India, its seeds used to be used for lighting purpose in evening for day to day purpose (while mustard oil for religious and health and culinary purposes) before the introduction of kerosene by the British.
Gallery
File:Mesua ferrea leaf.png|alt=Mesua ferrea leaf
File:Mesua ferrea - Young leaves.jpg|alt=Mesua ferrea - Young leaves and flowers.|Young leaves and flowers
File:Mesua ferrea - Young leaves and flowers..jpg|alt=Mesua ferrea - Young leaves and flowers|Young leaves and flowers
File:Mesua ferrea – Young fruit.jpg|alt=Mesua ferrea – Young fruit|Young fruit
File:Mesua ferrea – Ripe fruits.jpg|alt=Mesua ferrea – Ripe fruits|Ripe fruits
See also
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List of Indian timber trees
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Nagkesar seed oil
External links
