Pods of Alstonia - Hawari Nuga
SLF 0000Common Classification Common Names Hard Alstonia, Milk Wood Tree Scientific Name Alstonia macrophylla Sinhala Name Hawari Nuga, Attonia Scientific Classification Family Apocynaceae Genus Alstonia Synonym Alstonia batino Ecology Category Wood Growth Habit Tree Duration Perennial Origin Introduced Status Cultivate-Natural Property Culinary / Edible No Use as Herb No Other Use Timber Firewood n/a Poisoned / Toxin No Identification
The Hard Milkwood or Alstonia tree is a species of Apocynaceae family native to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Philippines and introduced to Sri Lanka as a timber production tree.It is fast growing large tree grows up to 30 -40 meters in height and 2 or 3 meters in girth. It is occurs naturally or cultivated tree mostly in wet zone in the low country. The fast growing plant was cultivated for timber production, also chose to reforestation over the past few decades and now it is spread throughout the country. It is widely used for timber in number of applications because it's price is low.The Alstonia timber categories as 'Class 2' timber by the Sri Lanka timber corporation but it is cheaper than other timber. It is also popular for firewood.
