The locality of Puththa'lai trees

Puththa'lai

A moderate sized tree found in peninsular India and in the island of Sri Lanka, White Catamaran Tree, Givotia rottleriformis Griff (Eezham Tamil, A Systematic Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Ferns Indigenous to or Growing Wild in Ceylon, entry no. 706, 1885); Bhuguthalai: Givotia rottleriformis (Iru’lar dialect of Tamil Nadu/ Kerala); Pooththaa’li, Ve’nthaa’li, Chen-tha’nakku: White Catamaran Tree, Givotia rottleriformis (Tamil, Madras Tamil Lexicon)

Know the Etymology: 185
Place Name of the Day: Thursday, 03 February 2011

Puththa'lai

புத்தளை
Puttaḷai

Puththa'lai

The locality of Puththa'lai trees

Puththa’lai tree, Givotia rottleriformis [Image courtesy: opendata.keystone-foundation.org]

Puththa’lai (Givotia rottleriformis) foliage and fruits [Image courtesy: opendata.keystone-foundation.org]

The Eezham Tamil name Puththa’lai for the tree Givotia rottleriformis Griff of the Euphorbiaceae family is found recorded in the colonial registry “A Systematic Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Ferns Indigenous to or Growing Wild in Ceylon” dated 1885, brought out by Royal Botanical Gardens of Peradeniya. No Sinhala name is found recorded for this tree.

Givotia moluccana (L.) Sreem (A Check List of Flowering Plants of Sri Lanka 85:24) and Croton moluccanus are noted as botanical synonyms.

The Eezham Tamil name Puththa’lai corresponds to Pooththaa’li, found in Tamil Nadu and Bhuguthalai found in the Iru’lar dialect of Kerala/ Tamil Nadu as names of this tree.

The distribution of this tree is noticed only in limited areas of the forests of Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Karnataka, West Bengal and coastal Sri Lanka.

The moderately sized tree is commercially valuable in building Catamarans and hence the English name, White Catamaran Tree.

The white wood of the tree is exceedingly light, soft, even grained and durable. It is also used in carving figures, toys and fancy items.

The commercial value and poor germination of its seeds affecting propagation have made the Puththa’lai tree an endangered species.

The bark and seeds of the tree are used in indigenous medicine in the treatment of rheumatism, dandruff and psoriasis. (Plant, Vol 45, No. 4, pp466-473)

The Pa’l’liyar tribe of southern Tamil Nadu give endosperm of the seeds mixed with milk (10gms to 100ml) for three days to improve digestion in children (Natural Product Radience Vol 3(6) 2004)

Its stem-bark paste is applied and its leaves are used as bandage during deep cuts by ethnic people of Krishna district, Andhra Predesh (Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Vol 9(2) 2010.

Oil extracted from the seeds is used in lubricating machinery.

Puththa’lai is a village in Vadamaraadchi Northeast (Point Pedro) division of Jaffna district

Another related place name:

Puththa’lam: Probably from the Puththa’lai trees. Another possibility is that the name means ‘new saltpans.’ This is district headquarters of Puththa’lam district in North West Province.