Family: Actinidiaceae (Kiwifruit family)
Common Name: Gogan
Local Name: Gugna (गुगना)

Gugna is a small to medium sized  tree of Western Himalayas  It is occasionally seen growing in forest, thickets,roadsides and  hill slopes up to  an altitude. of 2500m. Gugna  grows best in well drained partial shade to sunny habitat. It is propagated further through seeds. 

Ripe fruits of Gugna are sugary, sweet and edible. They are usually eaten raw. Ripe fruits are also  an excellent addition of desserts, rayata, jam etc with other wild or cultivated fruits.   

 Gugna is harvested from the wild for its edible fruits, fodder, fuel and  for large sized leaves which are  used as packaging material. Gugna  can also be grown as soil binder,hedge or ornamental plant in private land. 

 Gugna  Plant:

A small to medium sized perennial tree  growing  4-20 m tall. 

Covered with scales and hairs. Bark greyish-brown to reddish

Branchlets are brown velvety to smooth. 

Leaves are narrowly elliptic to oblong-obovate. 13-36 cm long, 7-15 cm broad, thinly leathery, sparsely rusty velvety below, smooth above, with prominent lateral veins 28-40 pairs, base blunt to rounded to wedge-shaped, margin finely toothed, tip long-pointed to pointed. Flowers are borne in clusters 12-33 cm long in leaf axils, carried on stalks about half as long as the cluster. with 1 or 2 bracts at base of each branch.Leaf-stalks are 2.5-5 cm. 

 Flowers are pink to purplish, 0.8-1.5 cm in diameter. Sepals are unequal, outer 3 smaller, elliptic to broadly elliptic, inner 2 larger, broadly elliptic to circular, 5-7 mm. Petals are oblong, about 8 mm, fused at base, curled back at apex. Stamens are 50-90. Ovary is spherical, styles 4 or 5, fused below the middle.Flower-stalks are 1.7-2.5 cm, with 2 nearly opposite bracteoles below middle. 

Fruits are small sized green to yellowish, spherical to depressed-spherical, ribbed or slightly ribbed. 

Ripe Gugna fruits can be harvested from late spring to pre-summer. As seeds are means of dispersal, fruits need to be harvested sustainably either by habitat rotation or by keeping some fruits on the parent plant to ensure sustainable development.

Edible uses:

Ripe fruits are eaten fresh. They can be an excellent addition to desserts, rayata,jams etc.

Desserts:

Ingredients:

Ripe fruits of Gugna and other chopped fruits acc.  to taste,1/2 kg; curd, 1 kg; sweetener like honey/ sugar/ condensed milk, 1-3 teaspoons; cardamom powder,1/4 teaspoon; black salt according to taste.

Method:

Take curd in a bowl. Add to it sweetener according to choice and stir well. Add cardamom powder, black salt, Gugna fruits and  other chopped fruits according to preference. Mix well and serve.

‘Rayata’:

Ingredients:

Ripe fruits of Gugna ankhe and other chopped fruits,1/2kg; curd, 1kg; Chopped medium sized onion, 3-4, red or green chilies, 3-4, black pepper, ¼ tea spoon, black salt according to taste.

Method:

Take curd in a bowl. Add all above in sequence. Mix well and serve.

Gugna Jam:

Ingredients:

Gugna,1/2 kg; sugar, 250 g; salt, 1/4 teaspoon; lemon juice, 2-3 teaspoon.

Method:

Put Gugna fruits  in a boiling pan and boil till they are soft. When cool down mesh manually and then boil them in low flame with sugar and salt for two minutes. Keep stirring in low flame till sugar dissolves completely and jam becomes dense. Now mix it well with lemon juice and let it cool down.  Now jam is ready to serve. Jam should be used fresh and can be preserved for 10 to 15 days.

Seek professional advice before treating this plant medicinally.

Bark of this plant is used to treat fever.  Extract of this plant is  taken orally for fever ¹.

Other Uses

Gugna  is lopped for fodder, its fodder is considered good for milch cattle, Sometimes its wood is used as firewood. Large leaves of this plant are sometimes used as packing material.It can be grown as a hedge plant to demarcate boundaries or control soil erosion at the slopes..

References:

1. Manandhar, N. P. (2002). Plants and people of Nepal. Timber press.