• Family : ANNONACEAE
  (Custard-Apple Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : SITAPHAL FAMILY (सीताफल फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : ANNONACEAE
• Basionym : Guatteria fragrans Dalzell
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Unresolved name
• Common name : Fragrant Cherry Nutmeg
• Vernacular name : Gowri mara, Kakechapaya (Kannada); Chella, Kodangi, Pullarei, Nedunar, Perumaram (Malayalam)
• Habit : Tree
• Comments / notes : Frequent in evergreen and semi-evergreen forests of Western Ghats.
• Key identification features : Bark greenish-grey blast with white spots; bark and blaze aromatic.
• Flower, Fruit : November-April
• Collection Nos : CJS 13057, HFP 2544
• Distribution :
  • Karnataka : Dakshina Kannada district, Uttara Kannada district, Kodagu (Coorg) district, Hassan district
  • Kerala : Kannur district, Wayanad district, Malappuram district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district, Idukki district, Pathanamthitta district, Kollam district, Thiruvananthapuram district
  • Maharashtra : Sindhudurg district
  • Tamil Nadu : Coimbatore district
• Native : India
• Endemism : Western Ghats
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Saldanha & Nicolson, 1976 - Flora of Hassan district, Karnataka; Balakrishna Gowda & A.N. Sringesh 2004 – Sringeri (checklist unpublished); Flora of Karnataka, Flora of Karnataka, Saldanha, 1984; Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2014 - Flora of South Kanara; Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983).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=Polyalthia fragrans. Downloaded on 20 May 2024.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)