Cordia dichotoma

Common name

Indian Cherry

Bhokar

Typically found in moist deciduous forests.

It is a deciduous tree, of small to medium-size with a short crooked trunk, short bole and spreading crown
Leaves – simple, entire and slightly dentate. They are elliptical-lanceolate to broad ovate with a round and cordate base.
Stem – Stem bark is smooth or longitudinally wrinkled and is grayish brown in color.
Flowers – short stalked and bisexual. It is white to pinkish in color and appear in loose corymbose cymes. Flowering occurs between March and April.
Fruits – edible with sticky flesh mass. It is yellow or pinkish-yellow and is a shining globose or ovoid drupe seated in a saucer-like enlarged calyx. The pulp gets viscid and turns black on ripening, while fruiting takes place in the period of July to August.

The juice of the leaves is considered cooling, and is applied as a poultice to treat migraine, inflammation and swellings.
The fruit is very demulcent, mucilaginous and laxative. It is used for treating coughs and diseases of the uterus, the chest, and the urethra.
The bark is mildly astringent and tonic. A decoction of the stem bark is used for treating dysentery fever, headache, stomach-ache, dyspepsia, diarrhea and is taken as a tonic. It is also beneficial after parturition.
The moistened bark is maturative when applied to boils, swellings and tumours. It is applied to ulcers in the mouth in the form of a gargle or as a powder. Rubbing the teeth with the bark strengthens it.

The mucilaginous fruit could be used to make a glue.
The wood is used for house construction and agricultural implements.
In parts of India the immature fruits are used as vegetable fodder.
Leaves of the tree are used to wrap food before cooking, and is also used as plates and cigar wrappers.

Cordia dichotoma G. Forster, India Biodiversity Portal.

Plant profile, phytochemistry and pharmacology of Cordia dichotoma (Indian cherry): A review, APJTB. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3805104/#:~:text=Morphology%20of%20C.,a%20round%20and%20cordate%20base