Herbarium JCB

Sapium insigne (Royle) Benth. & Hook.f.

Family : EUPHORBIACEAE
(Spurge Family)
Family (Hindi name) : AMLA FAMILY (आँवला फैमिली)
Family (as per The APG System III) : EUPHORBIACEAE
Basionym : Falconeria insignis Royle
Synonym(s) : Falconeria malabarica Wight
Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Falconeria insignis Royle
Common name : Tiger's Milk Spruce
Vernacular name : Lendwa (Hindi); Kannu pade (Kannada); Sakkarakkalli (Tamil); Lendwa, Khinna, Khirum, Khindra, Kendwa (Oria); Kaduru, Barhasula (Telugu); Kalmaram, Kannampotti (Malayalam)
Habit : Tree
Habitat : Evergreen forests
Comments / notes : Occasional along rocky hills up to 600m on dry deciduous belt, often among rocks. Latex is toxic and causes instant blindness when fallen in eyes.
Key identification features : Produces a highly toxic milky latex.
Flower, Fruit : December-May
Distribution :
- Andhra Pradesh : Kurnool district, Kadapa district, Nellore district, Chittoor district
- Karnataka : Dakshina Kannada district, Uttara Kannada district, Kodagu (Coorg) district, Shivamogga district
- Kerala : Kasaragod district, Wayanad district, Kozhikode district, Malappuram district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district, Idukki district, Thiruvananthapuram district
- Odisha : Similipal Hills (Mayurbhanj district)
- Tamil Nadu : Kolli Hills (Namakkal district)
World Distribution : India, Himalayas, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Indo-China, Malay Peninsula
Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
Literature : H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 3; 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.
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=Sapium insigne. Downloaded on 5 June 2025.