Varuna

Sanskrit:      Varuna 

Kannada:    Neravale

Hindi:           Barna

English:       Three leaved caper

Health benefits :

• Abdominal tumors
• Ovarian cysts
• Herpes
• Spider bite
• Renal stones
• Diseases of ear

Flowering: January-April

Fruiting: April-August

Morphology:

Trees, up to 16 m. in height and 1.5 m. in girth. Bark ca. 1.8 cm thick, ash coloured with horizontal wrinkles, granular inside. Leaves palmately trifoliate, leaflets lanceolate, bitter; stipules minute, caducous; petiolules ca. 2-5 mm.; petiole ca. 7.5-12 cm long; lamina ca. 13-18 x 4-6 cm., tapering below the middle to a long acumen, oblique at base, cuneate at apex, chartaceous when fully mature; secondary nerves 8-15 pairs, arched, finely reticulate. Racemes terminal, laxly flowered; Sepals are not keeled and less persistent. Fruit ovoid, oblong, 2-celled. Seeds flat and angular.

Indian Distribution:  North East India, Maharastra, Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh; South East Asia 

Taxonomy

Kingdom:  Plantae

Phylum:     Tracheophyta

Class:          Magnoliopsida

Order:        Capparales

Family:       Capparaceae

Genus:       Crateva

Species:     Crateva magna (Lour.) DC.