Skip to main content

False ashoka (Monoon longifolium)

Dlium False ashoka (Monoon longifolium)

False ashoka (Monoon longifolium) is a plant species in the Annonaceae, a small tree, evergreen, up to more than 20 meters high, symmetrical pyramidal with pendulous branches, hardwood, easy to grow and very adaptive.

M. longifolium has long narrow lanceolate leaves with wavy edges, 25 cm long, 6 cm wide, copper brown pigmentation but over time becomes bright green and finally dark green.



Pale green flowers resemble delicate stars. The flowering period is usually 2-3 weeks. Fruits in 10-20 pieces, round, up to 2 cm wide, green but turn purple or black when ripe.

Trees are used to filter air pollution. Leaves are used for decorative decoration during festivals. Trees are easily pruned into various shapes and maintained in the required size. Flexible, straight and light rods are used in making sailing ship masts. Wood for making pencils, boxes and matches. Seed oil has anti-oxidant, anti-lipooxygenase and antimicrobial activity.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Magnoliales
Family: Annonaceae
Subfamily: Malmeoideae
Tribe: Miliuseae
Genus: Monoon Miq. in Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugduno-Batavi 2: 15 (1865)
Species: Monoon longifolium (Sonn.) B.Xue & R.M.K.Saunders in Taxon 61: 1032 (2012)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Guatteria longifolia (Sonn.) Wall. in Numer. List: n.° 6442 (1832)
Polyalthia longifolia (Sonn.) Benth. & Hook.f. ex Thwaites in Enum. Pl. Zeyl.: 398 (1864)
Unona altissima Russell ex Wall. in Numer. List: n.° 6442 (1832)
Unona longifolia (Sonn.) Dunal in Monogr. Anonac.: 109 (1817)
Uvaria altissima Pennant in Outlin. Globe 1: 83 (1798)
Uvaria longifolia Sonn. in Voy. Indes Orient., ed. 2, 3: 260 (1782)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Polyalthia longifolia var. pendula Benthall in Trees Calcutta: xliii, 11 (1946)

PUBLICATIONS

Balkrishna, A. (2018). Flora of Morni Hills (Research & Possibilities): 1-581. Divya Yoga Mandir Trust.

Johnson, D.M. & Murray, N.A. (eds.) (2022). Flora of Thailand 16(1): 1-332. The Forest Herbarium, Royal Forest Department.

Turner, I.M. (2018). Annonaceae of the Asia-Pacific region: names types and distribution. Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 70: 409-744.

VERNACULAR NAME

Assamese: Umboi
Australia: Indian mast tree
Bengali: देबदारू
Chinese (Simplified): 长叶暗罗 - 垂枝暗罗 - 印度塔树
Chinese (Traditional): 印度塔樹 - 長葉暗羅
English: False ashoka, Indian mast tree, Glodokan Tiang, Buddha tree, Indian fir tree, Ashoka, Green champa, Mast tree, Telegraph pole tree
Finnish: Intiankoppipuu
Gujarati: આસોપાલવ
Hindi: अशोक Ashok
Indonesian: Glodogan Tiang
Japanese: マストツリー - レインツリー
Kannada: Madras ashoka, Ubbina, Kambada mara
Konkani: Asok
Malayalam: Ashokam, Ashvattam, Hemapushpam, Aranamaram, Cherunna, Choranna
Manipuri: Debdar
Marathi: Devdar, Dedbari
Nepali: अशोक Aśōka
Oria: Debadaru, Asupal
Russian: Полиалтия длиннолистная
Sanskrit: Ashoka, Putrajiva
Sinhala: වන්සුලම් - නෙත්තලිංගම් Vansulam
Slovak: mnoholiek dlholistý
Spanish: Árbol mástil, Pino Indu
Tamil: வன்சுலம் - நெற்றிலிங்கம் Vansulam, Nettilingam
Telugu: Devdaru, Nara maamidi
Thai: อโศกอินเดีย

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
Web: https://www.dlium.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium
Labels:

Popular Posts

Yellow garden spider (Argiope appensa)

Yellow garden spider ( Argiope appensa ) is a species of spider in Araneidae that lives on the coast to forests on islands in the western Pacific Ocean. Black and yellow females are striking and have a length of 5.1-6.4 cm including long legs, while males are brown and have a length of about 1.9 cm. A. appensa lives on cliffs in the hills at 600 m above sea level in Kewu plain to rice fields in the lowlands. They make nests at a height of 1.5 meters from the ground between teak ( Tectona grandis ), sonokeling ( Dalbergia latifolia ), sonosiso ( Dalbergia sissoo ), crown flower ( Calotropis gigantea ) and various grasses. Yellow garden spiders grow in large sizes, but are not toxic to humans. Advanced builds ball-shaped nets and most of them make stabilizers which are zigzag-shaped lines in nets made of thicker bands. This species spends more time in stationary and sits in the middle of the net with its head down to wait for insects to be entangled in fine silk thread. Unli...
Read more

Skyflower (Duranta erecta)

Sinyo nakal or skyflower ( Duranta erecta ) is plant species in Verbenaceae, a broad shrub or small tree, up to 6 m high, stems growing upright or horizontally with broad clumps, many branches, bark light brown, old tree has axillary spines and grows to form dense colonies. D. erecta has bright green leaves, elliptical to ovoid, pointed or rounded ends, sitting opposite, 7.5 cm long, 3.5 cm wide, a main vein in the middle with several small lateral veins, petiole long 1.5 cm. Flowers are light blue or lavender or white, appear in tight clusters as on terminal stems and axils, often curled or pendulous, blooms in summer. The fruit is a berry having a stalk, small round, yellow or orange or white in color, up to 11 mm in diameter, an eye green in front and containing several seeds. Skyflower grows in dry or humid areas and lots of sun, rocky or sandy beaches, forests, farmland and disturbed places. Plants will grow at a rate of up to half a meter per year. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum:...
Read more

Big-leaved acacia (Acacia mangium)

Big-leaved acacia ( Acacia mangium ) is a species of woody plants in the Acacieae, long oval leaves, growing up to 30 m and straight stems, except in less favorable places will grow only 7-10 m, have hardwood, rough, longitudinal grooved and dark to light brown. A. mangium has shoots with compound leaves consisting of many minor leaves and after growing a few weeks does not produce any more real leaves but the main axis of the petiole of each compound leaves widens and turns into known pohyllocladus or pseudo leaves. Big-leaved acacia has about 142,000 seeds/kg. Long pods form circular threads and are black or brown when ripe. Dry pods will open to expose small black seeds. Trees bind nitrogen to the soil and are a popular species for agroforestry projects. This plant is weather resistant, although it requires special care if it is planted as a garden plant where the leaves are falling a lot. These plants include legumes that grow quickly by increasing height 4 m per year near ...
Read more