Herbarium JCB

Filicium decipiens Thw.

Family : SAPINDACEAE
(Soapberry Family)
Family (Hindi name) : REETHA FAMILY (रीठा फैमिली)
Family (as per The APG System III) : SAPINDACEAE
Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Filicium decipiens (Wight & Arn.) Thwaites
Common name : Fern leaf Tree
Vernacular name : Kattupuvarasu, Ningal, Athadali, Eruvillipaalai (Tamil); Irumbarakki, Neeroli, Valmuriccha, Muriccha, Sanimaram (Malayalam)
Habit : Tree
Habitat : Evergreen and semi-Evergreen forests, also often planted in gardens.
Comments / notes : Occasional in moist ravines and shaded floors of sholas.
Key identification features : Handsome tree with beautiful fern-like leaves
Flower, Fruit : October-April
Distribution :
- Andhra Pradesh : Chittoor district, Srikakulam district
- Kerala : Kannur district, Wayanad district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district, Idukki district, Kollam district
- Maharashtra : Mumbai Suburban district, Mumbai-City district, Aurangabad district, Jalna district, Parbhani district, Hingoli district, Beed district, Nanded district, Osmanabad district, Latur district, Thane district, Pune district
- Odisha : Cuttack district
- Tamil Nadu : Namakkal district, Vellore district, Dindigul district, Kanchipuram (Changalpattu-CGP) district, Coimbatore district, The Nilgiri district, Tiruchirapalli district, Tirunelveli district, Dharmapuri district, Salem district, Villipuram district, Cuddalore district
Native : Sri Lanka
World Distribution : India, Sri Lanka
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 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=Filicium decipiens. Downloaded on 3 April 2025.