Pterocymbium tinctorium Merr

 
  • Family : STERCULIACEAE
    (Sterculia Or Cocoa Family)
  • Family (Hindi name) : COCOA FAMILY
  • Family (as per The APG System III) : Malvaceae
  • Basionym : Heritiera tinctoria Blanco
  • Synonym(s) : Clompanus javanica Kuntze; Pterocymbium columnare Pierre; Pterocymbium macrocrater Warb.; Pterocymbium nicobaricum Didr.; Sterculia campanulata Wall. ex Mast.
  • Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Pterocymbium tinctorium (Blanco) Merr.
  • Common name : Winged Boot Tree, Bellflower Sterculia
  • Vernacular name :
    • Papita (Kannada)
  • Habit : Tree
  • Habitat : Found almost everywhere in deciduous forests
  • Comments / notes : In young trees the branches are in whorls. Its delicate and singularly shaped follicles are very attractive. About the month of March, the bunches of reddish fruits hanging on the leafless trees make them conspicuous in the jungles. Wood white, light, soft and perishable, used for floating heavy timber in rafts.
  • Key identification features : A large and tall tree with a smooth cylindrical bole, not buttressed, but with strong spreading roots at the base; bark greyish, patchy, cut strongly but irregularly dark-red and white streaked. Flowers yellowish-green, in terminal panicles, bell-shaped, with triangular segments. Follicles 3-6 from flower, on slender hooked stalks, membranous, veined, boat-shaped, with a narrow keel in the middle; seed 1, at the top.
  • Flower, Fruit : February-March
  • Distribution :
    • Andaman and Nicobar Islands : Andaman and Nicobar Islands
  • Native : Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India, Borneo, Jawa, Laos, Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, Philippines, Sulawesi, Thailand, Vietnam
  • Exotic/Native : Native
  • World Distribution : Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India, Borneo, Jawa, Laos, Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, Philippines, Sulawesi, Thailand, Vietnam
  • Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
  • Literature :
    • Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2014 - Flora of South Kanara
    • N.P. Sing & S. Karthikeyan 2000. Flora of Maharashtra vol 1.
    • Parkinson, C.E. 1923. A Forest Flora of the Andaman Islands, Govt. of India, Shimla
    • 100
  • Read more :
  • Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2024). India Flora Online. http://indiafloraonline-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Pterocymbium tinctorium. Downloaded on 13 June 2024.

Field Image(s)

India Distribution

World Distribution

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