• Family : EUPHORBIACEAE
  (Spurge Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : AMLA FAMILY (आँवला फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : EUPHORBIACEAE
• Basionym : Croton philippensis Lam.
• Synonym(s) : Mallotus philippensis (Lam.) Muell.-Arg. var. tomentosus Gamble
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Mallotus philippensis (Lam.) Mull.Arg.
• Common name : Kamala Tree, Monkey face tree
• Vernacular name : Sindur, Kamala, Rohii (Hindi); Kampillaka, Kumkumada mara (Kannada); Kunnancholai, Korangumanjanathi (Tamil); Kampillaka (Sanskrit); Shendri (Marathi); Sinduri, Kunkumo, Kapilo gundi, Sundari gudi (Oria); Naga racta, Sinduri, Sindhuramu (Telugu); Chenkolli, Kapila, Kuramaddaku, Kurangumanjal, Manjanampottu, Noorimaram, Ponoo, Ponnakam, Shenkolli, Sindooram, Thavatta (Malayalam)
• Habit : Tree
• Habitat : Mixed forests
• Comments / notes : Often on hills to 800m, on slopes, by shola borders and in forest clearings. Very common. Fruits are bright red and are used to extract dye.
• Flower, Fruit : June-March
• Collector(s) Name : Arun Singh & Raja K. Swmay
• Collection Date : 12/09/2014
• Collection Nos : HJCB-0021
• Collection Locality : Pudunur R.F., Javadu Hills, Tiruvannamalai district (TN)
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Common
  • Telangana : Common
  • Karnataka : All Districts
  • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
  • Maharashtra : Akola district
  • Odisha : Fairly common in forests
• World Distribution : India, Sri Lanka, Western Himalayas, Formosa, Malesia, Australia, Melanesia
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : J.L.Ellis, 1990- Flora of Nallamalais Vol. 2; H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 3; R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District; R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District; H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipahar (Similipal), Orissa; N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka; Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (2). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI; Kamble & Pradhan, 1988. Flora of Akola District, Maharashtra. Botanical Survey of 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=Mallotus philippensis. Downloaded on 3 April 2025.

Botanical Description

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