• Family : BALANOPHORACEAE
  (Balanophora Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : BALANOPHORA FAMILY
• Family (as per The APG System III) : BALANOPHORACEAE
• Synonym(s) : Balanophora elkinsii Blatt.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Balanophora fungosa subsp. indica (Arn.) B.Hansen
• Vernacular name : Athithippali, Kannukuttimadu, Nilamchakka (Malayalam); Vaeruchedi (Tamil)
• Habit : Parasite
• Habitat : Root parasite
• Comments / notes : On hills of evergreen forests in sholas as a root parasite
• Flower, Fruit : January-March
• Collector(s) Name : C.J.Saldanha
• Collection Nos : CJS 11562, CJS 12833
• Collection Locality : Shiradi Ghat (Hassan)
• Distribution :
  • Karnataka : Chikkamagaluru district, Hassan district, Kodagu (Coorg) district, Mysuru district
  • Kerala : Kannur district, Wayanad district, Malappuram district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district, Idukki district, Pathanamthitta district, Kollam district, Thiruvananthapuram district
  • Maharashtra : Satara district
  • Tamil Nadu : Alagar Hills (Madurai district), Kolli Hills (Namakkal district), Shevaroy Hills (Salem district), Kalrayan Hills (Salem district), Pachamalai Hills (Tiruchirapalli district), Bodamalai Hills (Salem district), Chitteri Hills (Vellore district), Sirumalai Hills (Dindigul district), Yelagiri Hills (Vellore district), Dharmapuri Hills (Dharmapuri district), Piranmalai Hills (Sivaganga district), Theerthamalai Hills (Dharmapuri district), Gingee Hill (Villipuram district), Javadu Hills (Tiruvannamalai district)
• World Distribution : India, China, Hainan, Malaya, Sumatra, Pacific Islands, Australia
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Saldanha, C. J. 1996. Flora of Karnataka vol. 2; Rao & Razi, 1981 - Mysore; Keshava Murthy & Yoganarasimhan, 1990 - Flora of Coorg district, Karnataka state; Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (2). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Ramaswamy & Razi, 1973 – Bangalore; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
• 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=Balanophora fungosa subsp. indica. Downloaded on 21 November 2024.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)