• Family : STERCULIACEAE
  (Sterculia Or Cocoa Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : COCOA FAMILY
• Family (as per The APG System III) : MALVACEAE
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Helicteres isora L.
• Common name : East-Indian screw Tree
• Vernacular name : Marodphali, Aita, Aitum (Hindi); Yedamuri, Kempukaaveri (Kannada); Velampuri, Vadampiri, Kaiva, Idampuri (Tamil); Nulita, Kavanchi, Syamali, Purikaya, Guba tada, Nuli tada (Telugu); Murmuriya, Muri-muri, Kurkurbicha (Oria); Aavartanee (Sanskrit); Murudsheng, Ati, Kewan, Murudseng (Marathi); Edampiri-Valampiri, Eeswaramoori, Kaivum, Kayinaru, Kayivilanaru, Kayivoolam, Kayyunanna, Valampiri (Malayalam)
• Habit : Shrub
• Habitat : Deciduous forests, also in plantations and plains
• Comments / notes : Common in dry deciduous forests. Also brought into gardens and plantations.
• Flower, Fruit : April-January
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Throughout Andhra Pradesh
  • Telangana : Nalgonda district, Khammam district, Mehboobnagar district
  • Karnataka : Bengaluru district, Ballari district, Chitradurga district, Dakshina Kannada district, Davanagare district, Hassan district, Mysuru district, Raichur district, Tumakuru district, Udupi district
  • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
  • Odisha : Throughout the Odisha
  • Tamil Nadu : All districts of Tamil Nadu
• Native : Tropical Asia
• World Distribution : Indian subcontinent, China, Malay Peninsula, Australia, Java
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Pullaiah et al., 2002 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 1; J.L.Ellis, 1987- Flora of Nallamalais 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; H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipahar (Similipal), Orissa; Franklin Benjamin & G.V.S.Murthy, 2013. Flora of Sri Venkateswara National Park, Andhra Pradesh, BSI.; 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.; Saldanha & Nicolson, 1976 – Flora of Hassan District; Cecil J. Saldanha, S. R. Ramesh (1984). Flora of Karnataka State vol. 1. Oxford and IBH Publishing Co, New Delhi; Gowda, 2004 – Flora of Sringeri; Ramaswamy & Razi, 1973 – Flora of Bangalore District; Rao & Razi, 1981 – A Synoptic Flora of Mysore District; Keshava Murthy & Yoganarasimhan, 1990 – Flora of Coorg District; Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2003 – Flora of Udupi District; Manjunath et al., 2003 – Flora of Davanagere District
• 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=Helicteres isora. Downloaded on 3 April 2025.

Botanical Description

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Field Image(s)