• Family : ASCLEPIADACEAE
  (Milkweed Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : AAK FAMILY (आक फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : APOCYNACEAE
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Decalepis hamiltonii Wight & Arn.
• Vernacular name : Maakaliberu (Kannada); Maahaalikizhangu, Mavallinga kizhangu, Neemam (Tamil); Nannari, Maredu kommulu, Madina kommulu (Telugu); Mahannikizhangu, Mahalikizhangu (Malayalam)
• Habit : Liana
• Habitat : Dry deciduous forests and scrub jungles
• Comments / notes : On hills of scrub and deciduous forests up to 1100m among rocks and stream banks. The tubers are medicinal and often pickled.
• Flower, Fruit : May-December
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Anantapur district, Kurnool district, Kadapa district, Prakasam district, Nellore district, Chittoor district
  • Karnataka : Bengaluru district, Ballari district, Davanagare district, Hassan district, Kolar district, Mysuru district, Tumakuru district
  • Kerala : Palakkad district, Idukki district
  • Tamil Nadu : Tiruchirapalli district
• Native : India
• Endemism : Peninsular India
• World Distribution : India
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Pullaiah et al., 2011 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 4; N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka; Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI; Saldanha & Nicolson, 1976 – Flora of Hassan district; Ramaswamy & Razi, 1973 – Flora of Bangalore; Rao & Razi, 1981 – A Synoptic Flora of Mysore District
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Decalepis hamiltonii. Downloaded on 2 April 2025.

Botanical Description

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