Botanical name: Tetracera akara    Family: Dilleniaceae (Karmal family)
Synonyms: Calophyllum akara, Tetracera rheedii, Tetracera sericea

Akara Sandpaper Vine is a large woody climber with stem and leaves very rough. Leaves are 8-12 x 3-5 cm, elliptic-oblong, base narrowed, margins entire to sawtoothed, tip tapering, leathery; lateral nerves 7-9 pairs; leaf-stalk 4-8 mm long. Flowers are white, borne in branch-end and lateral panicles, 2-2.5 cm across, carried on stalks 1-1.5 cm long. Petals are 4, 0.8-1.1 x 0.7-0.9 cm, round, pinkish-white. Stamens are many, 7-8 mm long; filaments yellowish white. Sepals are 4, 6-8 x 5-7 mm, round, reddish, often reflexed in fruit. Carpels are 3-5, about 1.5 x 1 mm; ovules many; style about 5 mm long. Seedpods are 2-3 or more, 6-8 mm long, spherical, with 1-3 mm long beak, rough, with enlarges sepals. Seeds are 1-2, about 2 x 3 mm, ovoid, black; aril about 6 mm long, red, fringed. Akara Sandpaper Vine is native to South India to W. & Central Malesia. Flowering: March-May.
Medicinal uses: Akara Sandpaper Vine is used by the Kani tribe of Kerala, India for treating various liver ailments.

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The flower labeled Akara Sandpaper Vine is ...