• Family : RUBIACEAE
  (Madder Or Coffee Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : COFFEE FAMILY (कॉफी फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : RUBIACEAE
• Basionym : Randia malabarica Lam.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Benkara malabarica (Lam.) Tirveng.
• Vernacular name : Sanna kaare, Bili kaare mullu (Kannada); Perumadhukarai, Sirukarai (Tamil); Pedalli, Pedda malle (Telugu); Phiriki (Oria); Cholakara (Malayalam)
• Habit : Shrub
• Habitat : Deciduous and scrub forests
• Comments / notes : Common in dry evergreen and scrub forests of 600 to 1000m.
• Key identification features : Flowers are very fragrant; fruits red when ripe
• Flower, Fruit : February-November
• Collector(s) Name : K. Sankara Rao, Arun Singh & Raja K. Swamy
• Collection Date : 26/11/2014
• Collection Nos : HJCB-0218
• Collection Locality : Papavinasanam, Tirumala Hills, Chittoor district (AP)
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Vishakapatnam district, Kadapa district, East Godavari district, West Godavari district, Srikakulam district
  • Karnataka : Kolar district
  • Kerala : Kozhikode district, Malappuram district, Thrissur district, Idukki district, Alappuzha district, Kollam district
  • Odisha : Koraput district, Ganjam district
• Native : India
• World Distribution : India, Sri Lanka
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Pullaiah et al., 2007 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 3; H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 2; R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District; R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District; N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka; 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; Nayar, T. S., et al, 2006. Flowering plants of Kerala, A hand book
• 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=Benkara malabarica. Downloaded on 7 September 2024.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)