• Family : CAPPARACEAE
  (Caper Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : KARIL FAMILY (करील फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : CAPPARACEAE
• Basionym : Capparis magna Lour.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Crateva religiosa G.Forst.
• Common name : Three-leaved Caper, Garlic Pear Tree
• Vernacular name : Varuna, Barun (Hindi); Varuna, Barun (Oria); Nirvaala (Kannada); Maralingam (Tamil); Varuna (Sanskrit); Neermathalam, Neerval, Mavulangam (Malayalam)
• Habit : Tree
• Habitat : Semi-Evergreen forests, also along river banks
• Key identification features : A medium sized tree to 10m heigh, densely foliaceous. Flowering before new leaves. Flowers white. Fruit globose, grey with powdery tomentum.
• Flower, Fruit : March-August
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Srikakulam district (Srikakulam district), Seeleru (Vishakapatnam district), East Godavari district (East Godavari district), West Godavari district (West Godavari district)
  • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
  • Maharashtra : Ahmednagar district, Mumbai Suburban district, Ratnagiri district, Sindhudurg district, Thane district
  • Odisha : Cuttack district, Puri district, Boudh district
  • Tamil Nadu : Dharmapuri district, Kanchipuram (Changalpattu-CGP) district, Coimbatore district, Dharmapuri district, Tiruvannamalai district, Vellore district, Ramanathapuram district, Villipuram district, Cuddalore district, Salem district, Tirunelveli district, Tiruchirapalli district
• Native : India
• World Distribution : Bangladesh, China, Indo-China, India, Indonesia, Malesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Pullaiah et al., 2002 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 1; H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1994- Flora of Orissa Vol. 1; R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District; Sudhakar Reddy, C et al., 2009. Tree Wealth of Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, India; Matthew, K.M., Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI; N.P. Sing & S. Karthikeyan 2000. Flora of Maharastra vol 1. Botanical survey of India, Govt. India.
• 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=Crateva magna. Downloaded on 14 November 2024.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)