''Macaranga peltata'' is a plant found in northern

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is one of the most widely occurring early successional woody species in Sri Lanka, specially in low country wet zone. Some of the many common names include kenda - කැන්ද or kanda in Sri Lanka and chandada in India.

Description

It is a resinous tree, up to tall. Young parts are velvet hairy. Leaves measure by , are alternately arranged, circular or broadly ovate, entire or minutely dentate, and palmately 9-nerved. The leaf stalk is attached on the lower surface of the leaf, not on the base. Yellow-green flowers occur in long

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

s in leaf

axils A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, f ...

in the months of January to February. Male flowers are minute, numerous, and clustered in the axils of large

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also lo ...

s. One round, black seed is in a spherical capsule 4 to 5 mm across. Macaranga peltata Exudates resinous from Cut Ends

Ecology

''Mallotus tetracoccus'' is a pioneer or early-successional or early-secondarySreejith, K. A. 2005
Ecological and Ecophysiological studies on the successional status of tree seedlings in tropical wet evergreen and semi-evergreen forests of Kerala.
PhD Thesis, Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun. 148 pages. tree species more common in forest edges, clearings, and secondary forests than in mature forest interiors. Ecophysiological studies indicate that ''Macaranga peltata'' shows a combination of high quantum use efficiency of photosynthetic system ( Fv/Fm) and relative growth rates under higher light conditions, similar in pattern to other pioneer species such as ''

Mallotus tetracoccus ''Mallotus tetracoccus'', also known as the rusty kamala, is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is a tree species found in parts of south Asia, typically occurring in the edges of tropical wet evergreen and semi-evergre ...

''.

Uses

Kenda leaves are commonly used for flavoring in Sri Lanka. Halapa dough is often flattened on a kenda leaf to soak in the flavor. Kenda leaves are used to wrap

jaggery Jaggery is a List of unrefined sweeteners, traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar consumed in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, North America, Central America, Brazil and Africa. It is a concentrated product of Sugarcane juice, cane jui ...

and other sweetmeats.In coastal regions of Indian state Kerala, these leaves are used by local fish vendors for wrapping the fish. Today the major use of ''Macranga peltata'' is for making wooden pencils and in the plywood industry.

Kollam Kollam (;), is an ancient seaport and the List of cities and towns in Kerala, fourth largest city in the Indian state of Kerala. Located on the southern tip of the Malabar Coast of the Arabian Sea, the city is on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake ...

produces 75 to 100 truck loads of pencil slats.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3595172 peltata Flora of the Indian subcontinent Flora of Indo-China