Mochras - Phool Supari Kali - Salmalia malabaricum - Bombax Ceiba- Red Silk Cotton Tree Gum

What is Gond Mochras (Bombax Ceiba):
The silk cotton tree, also called semul, is a type of native cotton tree with large red flowers. Native to India and other parts of Asia, the silk cotton tree is also found in northern Australia and tropical Africa. The genus name Salmalia is derived from the sanskrit name shaalmali.

Semul trees bear beautiful red-colored flowers during January to March. These flowers are full of cotton-like fibrous stuff that villagers gather to extract the cotton substance called "kopak". This substance is used for filling economically priced pillows, quilts, sofas etc.

The fruit on maturity appears during March and April. These are full of cotton-like fibrous stuff which can be cooked and eaten or pickled. Semul is quite a fast growing tree which can attain a girth of 2 to 3 meters and height about 30 meters in nearly 50 years or so. Its wood when sawn fresh is white in color.

Uses:
 Flowers - cooked. They are highly valued as a curry vegetable. The flower buds and the calyx of not fully opened flowers are eaten cooked as a vegetable.

Young leaves - cooked and eaten as a vegetable. Ripe seeds are eaten roasted. An oil is obtained from the seed. Young roots - raw or roasted. Rich in starch. 

Medicinal The flowers are astringent and refrigerant. They are used to treat cutaneous troubles. The young roots are diuretic and tonic. They are used in the treatment of cholera, tubercular fistula, coughs, urinary complaints, nocturnal pollution, abdominal pain due to dysentery, and impotency. 

The gum is astringent, demulcent and tonic. It is used in the treatment of dysentery, haemoptysis in pulmonary tuberculosis, influenza and menorrhagia.