Gab is an evergreen tree with a spreading crown. It can grow up to 37 m tall,
with a trunk girth of 2 m. The bark is black, smooth, and the inner bark turns
bluish on exposure to sunlight. Leaves are oblong and glossy. The male flowers
are formed in 3-5 flowered cymes in leaf axils. Female flowers are solitary,
4-parted, with 4 styles, and an 8-celled ovary. Fruits are round, up to 3.5 cm
in diameter, and seated on a persistent sepal structure. The fruit is green,
tinted red.
Medicinal uses: Gab is the Tinduka of Sanskrit writers;
its bark is described in the Nighantas as a good application to boils and
tumours, and the juice of the fresh bark as useful in bilious fever. The fruit
when unripe is said to be cold. light, and astringent, and when ripe
beneficial in blood diseases, gonorrhoea and leprosy.
Identification credit: Rajendra Shinde
Photographed in Okhla Pakshi Vihar, Delhi, Maharashtra & Manipur.
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The flower labeled Gaub is ...