The presence of earthen pots and evergreen therali leaves all around the the city during February-March season heralds the arrival of Attukal Pongala. Therali appam is an amalgamation of flavour and fragrance, which itself can whet one’s appetite. Though therali leaves or vayana, as it is called in the local dialect, are an all-time favourite of the young and the old alike, the younger generation may not be really aware of the origin of the aromatic leaves.
“During our childhood at my ancestral home in Haripad, we used to have therali appam, chakaappam, ila ada etc for evening snacks. We still conserve three sacred groves in our place that treasures several plants and trees with medicinal values, such as vayana, kattumavu, cheru etc,” says Kannan Warrier, senior principal scientist and coordinator of environmental information system (ENVIS), Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore. All these plants were grown naturally, and destruction of sacred groves and forests has been endangering the existence of such species, he says.
A relative of cinnamon, therali, which comes under the Lauraceae family of trees, is known in the science world as Cinnamomum malabatrum. It is a native of the Western Ghats, tropical and subtropical Himalayas, U.P., Eastern Bengal, the Khasia and the Jaintia Hills. Though it was grown in the backyards in households of yore, rare availability of its seedlings has confined its spread to mostly in the countrysides now. The tree is propagated naturally through seeds and rootsuckers and is rarely cultivated.
Vayana found a special mention in the 17th century treatise Hortus Malabaricus (Garden of Malabar) as ‘Kattukaruva’. This moderately sized tree sometimes attain larger heights in rare instances. The fragrant, three-ribbed leaves are elliptical in shape and are variable in size. The fragrance of the leaves is attributed to the presence of chemical components such as flavanoids and terpenoids, including euganol, camphor, benzaldehyde, cinnamic aldehyde etc.
The plant produces new flushes and flowers during January-February and fruits in the March-April period. Trees standing in sunshine blooms earlier than those under shade. Flowers are seen in fully mature trees. The younger leaves are reddish brown in colour. During festive seasons, the leaves are sold in local markets that fetch a rupee or two apiece. The berries are greenish pink and turn purplish brown on ripening.