Monday, 13 July 2026

Alstonia macrophylla Wall. ex G.Don

Alstonia macrophylla Wall. ex G.Don

al-STON-ee-uh -- named for Dr C Alston, Scottish Professor of Botany at Edinburgh ... Dave's Botanary
mak-roh-FIL-uh -- big leaf ... Dave's Botanary
commonly known as: batino, devil tree, hard alstonia • Bengali: বড়পাতা ছাতিম bara-pata chhatim • Gujarati: મોટી સપ્તપર્ણી mothi saptaparni • Kannada: ಜಂತಾಲ ಮರ janthaala mara • Malayalam: ബാറ്റിനോ batino • Marathi: मोठी सातवीण mothi satveen • Nicobarese: tachoroi • Onge: chuharoi • Tamil: வெள்ளை மரம் vellai maram • Telugu: బాటినో batino

known for / parts made use of: stem bark, leaves, trunk timber, roots & latex (sap), the whole living tree ... compiled from the web
botanical names: Alstonia macrophylla Wall. ex G.Don ... heterotypic synonyms listed at POWO, retrieved 12 July 2026
Bibliography / etymology / notes
Links listed as references in the notes below, may not remain valid permanently. Portals / websites have a tendency to re-organize / revise their content, leading to change in URLs of pages in their site. Some sites may even close down at their own will. The bits about the languages of India mentioned below are merely some bare facts gathered from the internet; just enough to satisfy curiosity about "where" could the listed names be best prevalent in India. All English transliterated names to be taken sensu amplo.
~~~~~ ENGLISH ~~~~~
written and spoken widely, in most parts of India
batino
  • Philippine Medicinal Plants - StuartXchange ... (accessed: July 12, 2026)
  • Batino is a popular name for this plant in the Tagalog language (spoken natively by the Tagalog people of the Philippines). ... compiled from the web.
devil tree
hard alstonia
matchstick tree
  • The Useful Plants of India (CSIR, Publications & Information Directorate)
  • While the authoritative publication "The Useful Plants of India" published by CSIR indexes this species under the English name "Match-stick Tree" it is important to note that Alstonia macrophylla is not commercially cultivated for timber on the Indian mainland. It remains strictly an urban ornamental and avenue tree. The matchstick trade designation applies primarily to its native operations in Southeast Asia, where its lightweight, straight-grained wood is traditionally harvested for industrial safety splints. ... compiled from the web.
~~~~~ BENGALI ~~~~~
written in: Bengali (বাংলা) ... spoken in: West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Tripura, Andaman & Nicobar Islands
বড়পাতা ছাতিম bara-pata chhatim
  • While some local naturalists colloquially refer to Alstonia macrophylla as "ছোট ছাতিম" (Chhota Chhatim) due to its smaller, milder flowers compared to the native state tree Alstonia scholaris (ছাতিম / Chhatim), its scientific name explicitly denotes its massive foliage. Borrowing the size-modifier framework established by Shrikant Ingalhalikar in Maharashtra, বড়পাতা ছাতিম (Bara-pata Chhatim / Large-leaved Chhatim) is coined as the most anatomically accurate Bengali name for this introduced species.
~~~~~ GUJARATI ~~~~~
written in: Gujarati (ગુજરાતી) ... spoken in: Gujarat, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu
મોટી સપ્તપર્ણી mothi saptaparni
  • As an introduced ornamental, Alstonia macrophylla lacks a traditional folk identity in Gujarat. However, the definitive Gujarati Vishwakosh establishes સપ્તપર્ણી (Saptaparni) [↗] as the universal local identity for the native Alstonia scholaris. મોટી સપ્તપર્ણી mothi saptaparni is coined in Gujarati, to cleanly represent the 'Large Seven-Leaved' characteristics of A. macrophylla, based on the elegant naming convention of botanist Shrikant Ingalhalikar, who coined 'Mothi Satveen' in Marathi.
~~~~~ KANNADA ~~~~~
written in: Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ) ... spoken in: Karnataka
ಜಂತಾಲ ಮರ janthaala mara
~~~~~ MALAYALAM ~~~~~
written in: Malayalam (മലയാളം) ... spoken in: Kerala, Lakshadweep
ബാറ്റിനോ batino
  • Sreekumar, V.B. and Kukreti S. B. (2024). A database for wood samples housed at the Xylarium of the Kerala Forest Research (KFRI Xylarium) ... (accessed: July 13, 2026)
  • The state botanical bodies, like the "Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI)", have bypassed coining a new name for this species. They have very simply maintained the authentic international trade name, reverse-transcribing it as ബാറ്റിനോ (Batino). The name integrates beautifully into the phonetic landscape of the Malayalam language without feeling out of place.
~~~~~ MARATHI ~~~~~
written in: Devanagari (मराठी) ... spoken in: Maharashtra, Karnataka
मोठी सातवीण mothi satveen
  • name coined, for want of name, by Shrikant Ingalhalikar, the author of Further Flowers of Sahyadri, the second among the three field guides to identify plants of northern Western Ghats of India, based on flowers
~~~~~ NICOBARESE ~~~~~
written in: Latin ... spoken in: Nicobar islands ... spoken by Nicobarese people ... Six distinct dialects and languages are spoken in the Nicobar Archipleago
tachoroi
~~~~~ ONGE ~~~~~
written in: Latin ... spoken in: Little Andaman Island ... spoken by: Onge people ... other names for this language: Ongee, Eng, Ung, also rendered Önge
chuharoi
~~~~~ TAMIL ~~~~~
written in: Tamil (தமிழ்) ... spoken in: Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands
வெள்ளை மரம் vellai maram
~~~~~ TELUGU ~~~~~
written in: Telugu ( తెలుగు) ... spoken in: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Puducherry
బాటినో batino
  • Exhaustive searches across Telugu news portals and Indian plant databases reveal no recorded regional name for this introduced species. Coining a compound name by prefixing a descriptor to the established names of Alstonia scholaris (such as Daevasurippi or Edakula Ponna) would not yield a phonetically pleasant name. To preserve linguistic harmony, it is best to very simply reverse-transcribe the globally popular Tagalog name into Telugu script as బాటినో (Batino).
~~~~~ KNOWN DISTRIBUTION in INDIA ~~~~~
Native to Andaman & Nicobar islands; introduced in the Indian mainland [↗] as an ornamental in urban parks.
NOTE: Select regional names have been intentionally coined on this page for languages that previously lacked vernacular names, to give this introduced species a localized identity.
~~~~~ Created on: 08:44 13-07-2026 ¦ Last updated: 17:25 13-07-2026 (DD-MM-YYYY) ~~~~~
Apocynaceae evergreen tree "Alstonia macrophylla" batino "devil tree" "hard alstonia" "matchstick tree"
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Alstonia macrophylla Wall. ex G.Don

al-STON-ee-uh -- named for Dr C Alston, Scottish Professor of Botany at Edinburgh ... Dave's Botanary mak-roh-FIL-uh -- big leaf ...

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