''Mesua ferrea'', the Ceylon ironwood, or cobra saffron, is a species in the
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Calophyllaceae
Calophyllaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Malpighiales and is recognized by the APG III system of classification. Most of the 14 genera and 475 species included in this family were previously recognized in the tribe Caloph ...
native to the
Indomalayan realm
The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia.
Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Ind ...
. This slow-growing tree is named after the heaviness and hardness of its
timber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...
. It is widely cultivated as an ornamental for its graceful shape, grayish-green
foliage
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 ...
with a striking pink to red flush of drooping young leaves, and its large, fragrant white flowers. It is the
national tree
This is a list of countries that have officially designated one or more trees as their national trees. Most species in the list are officially designated. Some species hold only an "unofficial" status. Additionally, the list includes trees that we ...
of
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, ...
, as well as the state tree of
Mizoram
Mizoram is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India, with Aizawl as its Capital city, capital and largest city. It shares 722-kilometres (449 miles) of international borders with Bangladesh to the west, and Myanmar t ...
and state flower of
Tripura
Tripura () is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a populat ...
in
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 ...
.
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
Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
's book ''
Species Plantarum
' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genus, genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial nomenclature ...
on page 515 in 1753.
''Mesua ferrea'' is a
complex
Complex commonly refers to:
* Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe
** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
species and had been split into several species and varieties. A.J.G.H. Kostermans and Gunatilleke et al. call the tree described in this article ''Mesua nagassarium''. Kostermans lists several subspecies of ''Mesua nagassarium''.
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, meaning "Water Na Tree". This "Diya Na" is not cultivated. Gunatilleke et al. (p. 139), however, remark in a footnote: "In the most recent revision ''diya na'' is named as ''
Mesua thwaitesii
''Mesua thwaitesii'', is a plant species in the family Calophyllaceae. It is native to Sri Lanka and southwestern India.
Kostermans and Gunatilleke et al. classify ''Mesua ferrea'' in the family
Clusiaceae
The Clusiaceae or Guttiferae Juss. (1789) (''nom. alt. et cons.'' = alternative and valid name) are a family (biology), family of plants including 13 genera and ca 750 species. Several former members of Clusiacae are now placed in Calophyllaceae ...
, while in the AgroForestryTree Database it is allocated to the
Guttiferae
The Clusiaceae or Guttiferae Juss. (1789) (''nom. alt. et cons.'' = alternative and valid name) are a family of plants including 13 genera and ca 750 species. Several former members of Clusiacae are now placed in Calophyllaceae and Hypericaceae ...
. In
Plants of the World Online
Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
History
Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...
, and
World Flora Online
World Flora Online is an Internet-based compendium of the world's plant species.
Description
The World Flora Online (WFO) is an open-access database, launched in October 2012 as a follow-up project to The Plant List, with the aim of publishi ...
it is in the
Calophyllaceae
Calophyllaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Malpighiales and is recognized by the APG III system of classification. Most of the 14 genera and 475 species included in this family were previously recognized in the tribe Caloph ...
family.
Varieties
* ''Mesua ferrea'' var. ''coromandeliana''
* ''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
flower
Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...
s 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.
Distribution and habitat
It is native to wet, tropical parts of Sri Lanka, India, southern
Nepal
Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
,
Burma
Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...
,
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 ...
,
Indochina
Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...
, the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
,
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
and
Sumatra
Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...
, 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
Dambulla ( ''Dam̆bulla'', ''Tampuḷḷai'') is a city situated in the north of Matale District, in Sri Lanka's Central Province. It is the second largest populated and urbanised centre after Matale in the Matale District. It is situated ...
such as
Na Uyana Aranya
Nā Uyana Āranya Senāsanaya ( Sinhala: නා උයන ආරණ්ය සේනාසනය, meaning 'Ironwood Grove Forest Monastery') is a Buddhist forest monastery in Kurunegala, Sri Lanka, associated with the Śrī Kalyāṇī Yogāś ...
, Namal Uyana, Na-golla Aranya, Pidurangala near
Sigiriya
Sigiriya or Sinhagiri (''Lion Rock'' , , pronounced SEE-gi-ri-yə) is an ancient rock fortress located in the northern Matale District near the town of Dambulla in the Central Province, Sri Lanka. It is a site of historical and archaeologic ...
, Kaludiya Pokuna near
Kandalama
Kandalama is a village in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. Kandalama is situated close to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites - the Dambulla cave temple and the Sigiriya rock fortress.
Kandalama is also home to the Kaludiya Pokuna Archeological Fo ...
, and
Ritigala
Ritigala is a mountain in central Sri Lanka which is home to an ancient Buddhism, Buddhist monastery. The ruins and rock inscriptions of the monastery date back to 1st century BCE. It is located away from the ancient monastic city of Anuradhapur ...
. They are probably the descendants of trees planted as ornamentals in the monasteries in ancient times during the
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura (, ; , ) is a major city located in the north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central Province, Sri Lanka, North Central Province and the capital of Anuradhapura District. The city lies north of the cur ...
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
''Theravāda'' (; 'School of the Elders'; ) is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed ''Theravādins'' ( anglicized from Pali ''theravādī''), have preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching or '' Dhamma'' in ...
, this tree is said to have used as the tree for achieved enlightenment, or Bodhi by four past
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),*
*
*
was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...
s:
Mangala
Mangala (, IAST: ) is the personification, as well as the name for the planet Mars, in Hindu literature. Also known as Lohita (), he is the deity of anger, aggression, as well as war. According to Vaishnavism, he is the son of Bhumi, the eart ...
(මංගල), Sumana (සුමන), Revata (රේවත), and Sobhitha (සෝභිත).
Buddhists believe that the next Buddha
Maitreya
Maitreya (Sanskrit) or Metteyya (Pali), is a bodhisattva who is regarded as the future Buddhahood, Buddha of this world in all schools of Buddhism, prophesied to become Maitreya Buddha or Metteyya Buddha.Williams, Paul. ''Mahayana Buddhism: Th ...
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.
In the northeastern state of
Assam
Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...
, 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
Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...
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
Nagkesar seed oil
Nagkesar oil is extracted from seeds of the nagkesar tree (''Mesua ferrea'', Hindi: नागकेसर). It belongs to the Calophyllaceae family. It is an East Indian evergreen tree and is often planted as an ornamental for its fragrant ...