Punjab Poision Oak is a tree up to 12 m tall. Young
shoots vare elvet-hairy to rusty woolly. Leaves are imparipinnate, 30
cm or more long. Leaflets are 9-13 in number, opposite, nearly
stalkless, 4-12 x 2-5.5 cm, ovate-oblong, entire to sometimes finely
minutely toothed, pointed to subtapering, rusty woolly, more on the
underside, base often oblique. Flowers are borne in panicles at
branch-ends, shorter than the leaves, rusty woolly. Calyx is shallow
cup-shaped, 5-cleft. Petals are 5, about 2 mm long,
inverted-lanceshaped, equalling or exceeding sepals. Stamens are 5;
filaments 2 mm long. Drupe is spherical, 3.5-4 mm broad. Punjab Poision
Oak is found in NW Himalaya, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and
Uttarakhand, Pakistan, at altitudes of 1000-2650 m. Flowering:
April-September.
Medicinal uses: An excrescence produced on the
leaf by an insect Melaphis chinensis or M. paitan is antiseptic,
astringent and haemostatic. It is used in the treatment of persistent
cough with blood, chronic diarrhoea, spontaneous sweating, night
sweats, bloody stool, urorrhoea and bloody sputum. It is applied
externally to burns, bleeding due to traumatic injuries, haemorrhoids
and ulcers in the mouth.
Identification credit: Ashutosh Sharma
Photographed in Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh.
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The flower labeled Punjab Poison Oak is ...