• Family : THEACEAE
  (Tea Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : CHAAY FAMILY (चाय फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : PENTAPHYLACACEAE
• Synonym(s) : Gordonia obtusifolia Wight; Gordonia parvifolia Wight
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Gordonia obtusa Wall. ex Wight
• Common name : Blunt-leaved Gordonia
• Vernacular name : Miyilai (Tamil); Mallanga (Kannada); Adangi, Chembarasan, Karikkova, Kattukarana (Malayalam)
• Habit : Tree
• Habitat : Evergreen forests and shola forests
• Comments / notes : Leaves used as substitute for tea in Nilgiris.
• Key identification features : An evergreen tree with grey bark. Leaves are simple, entire or crenate, oblong lanceolate, up to 15.5cm long, 5 cm broad, shortly petioled. Flowers are axillary and solitary. Corola is attractive, Petals fused at base, and united with stamens. Ovary is white and pubescent with 3 stigma. Fruit is a capsule dehiscing in to 5 valves.
• Flower, Fruit : October-May
• Collection Nos : KFP 1709, KFP 5153
• Distribution :
  • Karnataka : Chikkamagaluru district, Hassan district, Kodagu (Coorg) district, Shivamogga district
  • Kerala : Kannur district, Wayanad district, Kozhikode district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district, Idukki district, Pathanamthitta district, Kollam district, Thiruvananthapuram district
  • Tamil Nadu : Coimbatore district, Kanyakumari district, Madurai district, Ramanathapuram district, Tirunelveli district, Theni district and all shola forests
• Native : India
• Endemism : Western Ghats
• World Distribution : India
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Saldanha & Nicolson, 1976 - Flora of Hassan district, Karnataka; Cecil J. Saldanha, S. R. Ramesh (1984). Flora of Karnataka State vol. 1. Oxford and IBH Publishing Co, New Delhi; Balakrishna Gowda & A.N. Sringesh 2004 – Sringeri (checklist unpublished); Keshava Murthy & Yoganarasimhan, 1990 - Flora of Coorg district, Karnataka state; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI; Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1; Ravichandran, V. 2016. Taxonomic and Phytogeographical investigation on endemic plants of Western Ghats with special reference to Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuary of Tamil Nadu (Ph.D. thesis work)
• 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=Gordonia obtusa. Downloaded on 20 May 2024.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)