Know the Etymology: 183
Place Name of the Day: Monday, 31 January 2011

Thean-thookki

தேன்தூக்கி
Tēṉtūkki

Theanthookki

The place of Thean-thookki trees

Thean-thookki

Also Thean-thuykki: A small tree bearing white berries, Dimorphocalyx glabellus of the Euphorbiaceae family (Eezham Tamil); Wæli-wænna: The Sinhala name for Thean-thookki

Thean-thookki is the Eezham Tamil name for the tree called Wæli-wænna in Sinhala (usually written Weli-wenna). The botanical name of the tree is Dimorphocalyx glabellus (A Revised Catalogue of the Indigenous Flowering Plants and Ferns of Ceylon, Royal Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya, 1911, entry No. 1919).

The Sinhala name Wæli-wænna literally means the ‘jungle sort (of tree)’

The tree is also called as Thean-thuykki in Eezham Tamil (A Check List of the Flowering Plants of Sri Lanka, R11:107)

Chi’ru-koddai-maram and Kal-poththaan are reported as names of the tree in Tamil Nadu, India (International Journal of Applied Research in Natural Products, Sep 2009, p29-42; also Chakrabarty T and Balakrishnan N.P., Genus Dimorphocalyx Thw. In India 1990)

It is a much-branched small tree bearing white berries and is found mostly in the wet lowlands and dry zone of the island.

The distribution of the species is found in South India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and Australia.

The medicinal use of the tree is reported among the indigenous people of South India.

Croton lawianus Nimmo, Dimorphocalyx lawianus and Trigonostemon lawianus are synonyms of Dimorphocalyx glabellus.

Thean-thookki is a jungle village in the Karaithu’raippattu division of Mullaiththeevu district.


Some related place names:

Weliwenna-Weliaara: The locality of Wæliwænna trees on the side of Wæeli-aa’ra (the sandy river). This is a village in Tangalle division of Hampantota district

Weliwenna Wewa: The reservoir of Wæliwænna trees; Hanpantota district

First published: Monday, 31 January 2011, 00:21