• Family : MALVACEAE
  (Mallow Or Hibiscus Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : GURHAL FAMILY (गुड़हल फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : MALVACEAE
• Basionym : Hibiscus populneus L.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Thespesia populnea (L.) Sol. ex Corrêa
• Common name : Portia Tree, Bhendi tree, Seaside Mahoe
• Vernacular name : Paras pipal, Parsipu, Porush, Gajadanda (Hindi); Hoovarasi, Bugari mara (Kannada); Otti, Puvarasu (Tamil); Ganga raavi, Muni gangaraavi (Telugu); Halbali, Ganjausto, Poroso pippoli, Goya (Oria); Haripacchu (Sanskrit); Bendi-Kazed, Paras-bhendi, Pars-pimpal (Marathi); Cheelanthi, Pooparutthi, Poovarasu, Porasu (Malayalam)
• Habit : Tree
• Habitat : Mangrove forests; also grown in gardens and as avenue tree
• Comments / notes : Common along canals and near habitations. Flowers light yellow while opening, turns pink before closing
• Flower, Fruit : August-January
• Distribution :
  • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
  • Maharashtra : Cultivated in Maharashtra
  • Tamil Nadu : All districts of Tamil Nadu
• World Distribution : Widely distributed in the tropics
• 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; R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District; 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.
• 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=Thespesia populnea. Downloaded on 2 April 2025.

Botanical Description

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