M MIUA OR II.M'I'KI TKKK 



"" 





Cook.-. Fl. Pres. Bomb., ii., 92 



tree is met with from the 



Indian 

 Mahua. 



D.E.P., 

 i., 416. 

 Western 

 Ghats 



Wild, also 



Semi- 



cultivated. 



BAS8IA 



MALABARICA 



Illupei 



ami Kumaoii to (Jujanit, Kanara and Burma. It ascends the 

 ills to altitudes of close on 4,000 feet and is often cultivated. 



B. long-ifolla, Linn.; Gaertner, Fntct. et Sem. PL, ii., t. 104; D.E.P., 

 Lunik., Ulust., t. 398; Roxb., Fl. Ind., ii., 523; Wight, Illust. Ind. J-, 416 6. 

 . t. 147 ; Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind., ii., 183 ; Gamble, Man. Ind. Timbs., * 



Fl. Br. Ind., iii., 544. This ever- 

 Konkan southwards and replaces 



in South India. It is most frequently met with in cultiva- 

 tion. The Tamil, Telegu and other South Indian names mentioned above 

 more especially refer to it, such as ippa, yeppa, pinna, illipi, ippi, hippe, 

 ii, nieze, etc. 



B. malabarica, />v//r/.. Forester's Manual, 140 ; Talbot, List 

 /'. (2nd ed.), 207 ; Woodrow, in Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc., 

 v., 163 ; Cooke, Fl. Pres. Bomb., ii., 93. A tall tree of the Western 

 - from Kanara to Travancore and the Anaimalais, ascending to Mahua. 

 altitudes of 4,000 feet. It is best known by the names att-illupei, 

 lu, etc. 



Habitat. The mahua, though met with in a purely wild state in many parts of 

 ia, is of the greatest possible value to the inhabitants of large tracts of country 

 it exists in a state of semi-cultivation. It prefers dry sandy and even 

 rocky soil to rich low-lying and inundated lands. Apparently it is self-sown, 

 the seedlings being in some parts of the country protected for a few years (Ind. 

 For., 1880, v., 468). But by the casual visitor, it would appear, seedlings are not Paucity of 

 readily detected. Hamilton in 1788 (I.e. 305) says that neither he nor any of his Seedlings. 

 friends had ever seen an infant plant. Several writers have recorded the same 

 irvation. Mr. Sly (Commissioner of Settlements and Agriculture in the 

 tral Provinces) does so in his Annual Report for 1902-3, and adds that in Disappearance, 

 absence of reproduction it is only a question of time for many villages to 

 a most valuable addition to their food supplies. Numerous writers deplore 

 disappearance of the tree from regions where it formerly grew. Others 

 V and with much force, that every effort should be made to extend rather than 

 contract its cultivation. As a protection against famine few schemes are 

 be more highly commended (for many parts of India) than systematic cultiva- 

 tion of mahua where suitable lands are available. 



History of Mahua. It seems highly probable that the economic information History, 

 published from time to time regarding the mahua tree is fully applicable to all the 

 ,bove-mentioned species, each in its own area being the mahua or illupei of 

 ipular writers. From the industrial standpoint there is in fact no very sufficient 

 >n for their different values. The most remarkable fact regarding the 

 ,ua is that it appears to have escaped the notice of all the early European 

 ivellers Marco Polo, Vasco da Gama, Garcia de Orta, Varthema, Linschoten, 

 .vernier, Rheede and Rumphius are silent regarding this most valuable tree, 

 was, however, well known to the classic authors of India. Its best-known 

 ikrit name is madhuka. Susruta describes the spirit obtained by the distil- 

 ion of the flowers, and the oil from the seed is mentioned by Chadradatta. 

 Batuta, who travelled in India in 1332, calls it mahwa and remarks that the 

 sun-dried flowers taste like figs (Dymock). In the Memoirs of the Emperor 

 Baber, written from 1494 to 1529 (Leyden and Erskine, transl., 1826, 325), the Baber. 

 mehweh or gal-chekan is said to be a wide-spreading tree of whose timbers the 

 houses of the Natives of Hindustan are chiefly constructed. Mention is also 

 made of the spirit extracted from the flowers, of the dried flowers eaten like 

 . and of an oil extracted from the kernel. Thevenot (Travels Levant, 

 Indostan, etc. (Engl. transl.), 1687, iii., 94), speaking of Golconda, tells us that 

 clumps of a tree called " Mahoua " were placed along the boundary of the 

 territory of the " Mogul." The Ain-i-Akbari, 1590 (Blochmann, transl., 70), refers 

 to it as yielding a fruit known as gilaundah, which Abul Fazl adds is employed 

 in the preparation of an intoxicant. The botanical and other writers mentioned 

 above in connection with each species, carry the history of the products of these 

 plants up to the most recent dates, and it may be added that only the more im- 

 portant, and especially those not mentioned in the Dictionary, have been quoted. 



117 



Extended 



Production 



Desirable. 



Sanskrit 

 Knowledge. 

 Spirit. 

 Oil. 



Akbar. 



