• Family : RHAMNACEAE
  (Buckthorn Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : BER FAMILY (बेर फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : RHAMNACEAE
• Basionym : Rhamnus myrtina Burm.f.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Scutia myrtina (Burm. f.) Kurz
• Common name : Cat Thorn
• Vernacular name : Kurti, Karanji (Kannada); Kokkimullu, Tuvadi (Tamil); Garika (Telugu)
• Habit : Climbing shrub
• Habitat : On plains and in scrub jungles
• Comments / notes : Up to 1200m. Also common on denuded slopes and forest borders where they sometimes become dominant.
• Key identification features : Armed with prominent spines.
• Flower, Fruit : February-November
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Kadapa district, Nellore district, Chittoor district, West Godavari district, Srikakulam district
  • Kerala : Palakkad district
  • Maharashtra : Kolhapur district, Pune district, Raigad district, Satara district, Sindhudurg district
  • Odisha : Puri district, Khurda district, Ganjam district
  • Tamil Nadu : All districts of Tamil Nadu
• World Distribution : India, Africa, Madagascar, India, Seychelles, Mascarene Islands, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Mauritius
• 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; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI; Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1.
• 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=Scutia myrtina. Downloaded on 3 April 2025.

Botanical Description

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