Jackfruit (artocarpus heterophyllus) is native to Kerala or Southwestern India. Jack fruit is also found throughout India, and countries like Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam etc.

This tree produces the biggest tree-borne fruit. Though it appears to be a single fruit, it is a compound fruit. In Kerala, such fruits reach a maximum length of 4-5 ft and diameter 2 ft, easily weighing up to 40 kg and in rare cases 50 kg a fruit. It gives the appearance of a single fruit, giving it the appearance of a big fruit. The fruit, leaves and bark of the tree has a sticky white latex, which makes it difficult to handling the fruit. When the large green compound fruit is cut open with an axe or a big knife, one can see numerous bulbous parts (the actual fruit), each enclosing a long oval seed, which also is edible. One needs to apply kerosene, coconut oil or paraffin to remove the latex. There is however no glue in the actual fruit that people consume.

There are hundreds of variety of jack fruits in Kerala, which are mainly classified into two – koozha (the fruits become fibrous and lose its strength to retain shape on complete ripening and varikka (the fruits that retain the shape even after complete ripening. It takes skill to eat koozha chakka (chakka means jackfruit in Malayalam). On pressing the fruit the seed is sqeezed out. On the other hand varikka chakka stays in shape and gives a nice crunchy bite.

The wood is used as timber for making furniture of almost all kinds, including doors. Carpentry is quite easy on this wood. It also supports craftworks. The heartwood is also used in the production of different musical instruments.

Propagation of the plant is mainly by seeds or by air-layering. Seeds have very short shelf-life, usually less than 30 days.

Artocarpus heterophyllus belongs to the plant family Moraceae.

The Java Cassia (Cassia javanica) is an evergreen tree that reaches a height of up to 15 meters. Brightly colored pink, orange, yellow, red or white flowers cover the tree in summer. The plant is native to Java, but is found abundantly in India. The tree is also called rainbow shower tree, pink shower tree and apple blossom shower tree because of the resemblance of the flower to apple flowers.

The inflorescence appear upright from the stem and almost fully covers the tree. The tree is slightly deciduous, with leaves falling of near completely before blossoming. The fruits are long and accommodate several seeds within them. The tree grows quickly in all climates except extremes.

Cassia javanica belongs to the family fabaceae.

Kudampuli (garcinia cambogea) is an important tree, known for its pumpkin shaped, sour-tasting fruit. Kudampuli is the Malayalam word for Malabar tamarind or brindle berry.

The tree grows to about 15-20 m high, with dark green foliage and produces small flowers. The fruits appear in bunches. Garcinia fruits appear to be small slightly out of shape pumpkin hanging in bunches. The acrid fruit is used as a spice almost on a regular basis in Kerala kitchens.

Extracts from garcinia fruit now find application in several weight loss tonics and pills.

According to Ayurveda, kudampuli promotes digestion. It is thus a natural spice for Kerala and Indian families.

Garcinia cambogea belongs to the family Clusiaceae.

Mahogany (Swetinia Mahogany) is a quick growing timber tree found in almost all parts of India and now used almost as an alternative to teak.

Mahogany grows straight and much quicker than teak. Thus farmers choose it for many benefits including the quick straight timber they get from a mahogany tree.

This tree grows in wilderness as well as cultivated. It tree can be fallen in less than 20 years of planting.

Mahogany comes in the family Magnoliophyta.

Mango (Mangifera indica) is a delicious tropical fruit abundant in Kerala and all parts of India. There are thousands of variations of mango. They range in size and taste.

The term mango comes from either Malayalam ‘manga’ or Tamil ‘maangai’. The trees reach up to 35 meters height, abundantly branched, and with long leaves. Flowers appear as bunches. Raining during the flowering season can affect fruiting. There are many instances where the flowers are lost due to a shower or a small rain.

A single mango may weight up to 2.5 kg, however normal sized mangoes weigh 300 gm or less. Mango fruit is a drupe. Red is the common color of ripe mangoes. There are however variety that has yellow skin.

The trunk is used for furniture, but is not as stable as many other timber trees. Freshly cut and sawed timber is kept under water for six to eight weeks as a measure of strengthening the timber. It is then used in the manufacture of almost all kinds of domestic furniture.

The ripe leaves form a natural toothbrush. Many villages still have the practice of tearing away the central vein and coiling the blade of the leave for brushing.

Pipal (Ficus religiosa) is a large tree, native to India, held sacred by Buddhists, Jains and Hindus alike. According to Buddhist history, Gautama Buddha got enlightenment while he was meditating under a pipal tree at Bodh Gaya. The tree is also called sacred fig.

The leaves rustle even at the smallest breeze. Peepul, peepal, peepul, pipul etc are spelling variations.

It is also common to find deities presented at the base of this tree in different parts of the country. Buddhist sadhus, still meditate under the tree during early mornings and evenings.

Ficus religiosa belongs to the plant family Moraceae.

The purple bauhinia (bauhinia pupurea), also known as purple orchid tree is a flowering plant found in north eastern parts of India. The trees are fast growing and reach 15 to 17 m in height. The flowers are pink and pleasantly smelling. The long fruit bears several seeds.

Sal (Shorea robusta) is a timber tree. It is however very difficult to make furniture out of this tree. The wood of the tree has long been used as railway sleepers, but now is being replaced with concrete sleepers.

Sal trees yield a resin, which is pleasant incense, smoked especially in Hindu families. The sal fruits also produce an oil, which is solid at room temperature is used to burn lamps.

This tree is however almost totally absent from Kerala or south Indian forests. It is found in the forests of Assam, Bengal, Jharkhand, Haryana etc.

Sandalwood (Santalum album) is a rare tree noted for its fragrant wood, found in the forests of south India. About 90% of world sandalwood production is from India. Sandal wood finds application in manufacturing incense sticks, perfumes, aromatherapy essential oils, etc.

There are different 16th and 17th century temples in India that has sculptures made of sandalwood, which still emanates the soothing smell. Apart from those temples, sandalwood doesnÂ’t form a material for carvings for domestic use.

The tree is now declared as an endangered species and all the sandalwood trees are declared the property of government.

The tree has more religious sanctity in India. Temples all over India provide sandalwood paste to be applied on the forehead of devotees that visit the temple after taking a bath in the early morning.

Sandalwood also has application in Ayurvedic medicine. It is proved that the essential oil has anti-bacterial properties. Its efficiency in aromatherapy is also proved.

There is a peculiarity in the growth of sandalwood trees in the wilderness. Though it appears to be an independent tree staying far away from other plants, the root of the tree takes nutrients from the roots of other trees. A behind-the-curtain parasite will not be an improper adjective.

Since the prices of sandalwood oil has increased tremendously (in the tune of thousands of dollars per kg of oil), the artificial cultivation of sandalwood is now commonplace in countries like Australia, which poses a big question mark before ecological balance.