Mimusops elengi

 Mimusops elengi

Scientific Name: Mimusops elengi

Family: Sapotaceae

Common names: Spanish cherry, medlar, bullet wood, maulsari 

Mimusops elengi is a medium-sized evergreen tree found in tropical forests in South Asia, Southeast Asia and northern Australia. Its timber is valuable, the fruit is edible, and it is used in traditional medicine. As the trees give thick shade and flowers emit fragrance, it is a prized collection of gardens.

Bullet wood is an evergreen tree reaching a height of about 16 m. Leaves is glossy, dark green, oval-shaped, 5–14 cm long, and 2.5–6 cm wide. Flowers are cream, hairy, and scented. Bark is thick and appears dark brownish black or greyish black in colour, with striations and a few cracks on the surface. The tree may reach up to a height of 9–18 m with about 1 m in circumference.

Medicinal Uses:

The bark, flowers, fruits, and seeds of Bakula are astringent, cooling, anthelmintic, tonic, and febrifuge. It is mainly used in dental ailments like bleeding gums, pyorrhoea, dental caries, and loose teeth.

Extracts of flowers are used against heart diseases, leucorrhoea, and menorrhagia, and act as antidiuretic in polyuria and antitoxin. The snuff made from the dried and powdered flowers is used in a disease called ahwa in which strong fever, headache, and pain in the neck, shoulders, and other parts of the body occurs.

Ripened fruits facilitate a cure for burning urination. The ripe fruit pounded and mixed with water is given to promote delivery in childbirth. The powder of dried flowers is a brain tonic and useful as a snuff to relieve headache. Decoction of bark is used to wash the wounds.

Mimusops elengi