Alstonia scholaris

Botanical Name – Alstonia scholaris

Common Name – Saptaparna (Sanskrit), Chitvan, Saptaparni (Hindi), Satvin (Marathi)

Distribution – Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana

Habit

• Large evergreen tree
• Moderately fast-growing
  
  

Habitat

• Moist deciduous to evergreen forests
  
  

Specific properties

• Grows in sunlit area
• Drought resistant
• Preferred for land restoration
  
  

Ecology

• Large branches are preferred by wild bees for hives and birds for nesting
• Attracts lots of insects like bees, flies and wasps which also pollinate it
• Preferred as nectar plant by 16 butterfly species i.e, Common Snow flat, Dark Cerulean, Flashes, Striped Tiger, Common Crow, Grey Pansy, Short-Banded Sailer, Common Leopard, Vagrant, Common Mime, Common Mormon, Spot Puffin, Painted Jezebel, Red-base Jezebel, Red-spot-Jezebel, Lemon Emigrant
  
  

Uses

• Bark is used to treat digestive tract disorders, malaria, asthma, fever, dysentery, epilepsy, skin diseases, relaxes spasms, stimulates lactation, expels intestinal worms, treat bowel complaints, irregular menstruation, toothache, rheumatism, snakebite, valuable remedy for chronic and advanced diarrhoea, protects liver and purifies blood
• Leaves treat skin diseases, infusion of crushed leaves used to clean infected wounds
• The parts of the tree possess antimicrobial, anti-amoebic, anti-plasmodial, immune-modulatory, anticancer, anti-asthmatic, antioxidant, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcer, antifertility and wound healing activities
• Before Diwali festival, bark is consumed to neutralize the excessive intake of sugar 
• The latex provides a good quality chewing gum
• Name scholaris refers to its timber used to make wooden slates, blackboards
• Bark yields fibre and yellow dye
• Its charcoal is used as gun powder
• Tree is used in paper making
  
  

Propagation

• Seeds