Thespesia populnea (L.) Sol. ex Corrêa

 
  • Family : MALVACEAE
    (Mallow Or Hibiscus Family)
  • Family (Hindi name) : GURHAL FAMILY (गुड़हल फैमिली)
  • Family (as per The APG System III) : Malvaceae
  • Basionym : Hibiscus populneus L.
  • Synonym(s) : Bupariti altissima (Spreng.) Rothm.; Bupariti populnea (L.) Rothm.; Hibiscus baccifer G.Forst.; Hibiscus blumei Kuntze; Hibiscus litoreus J.Presl; Hibiscus macrophyllus (Blume) Oken; Hibiscus populifolius Salisb.; Hibiscus populneus L.; Malvaviscus populneus (L.) Gaertn.; Parita populneus (L.) Scop.; Thespesia altissima Spreng.; Thespesia macrophylla Blume; Thespesia populnea var. bynoeana Domin; Thespesia populnea var. typica Domin
  • Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Thespesia populnea (L.) Sol. ex Corrêa
  • Common name : Portia Tree, Bhendi tree, Seaside Mahoe
  • Vernacular name :
    • Paras pipal, Parsipu, Porush, Gajadanda (Hindi)
    • Hoovarasi, Bugari mara (Kannada)
    • Otti, Puvarasu (Tamil)
    • Ganga raavi, Muni gangaraavi (Telugu)
    • Halbali, Ganjausto, Poroso pippoli, Goya (Oria)
    • Haripacchu (Sanskrit)
    • Bendi-Kazed, Paras-bhendi, Pars-pimpal (Marathi)
    • Cheelanthi, Pooparutthi, Poovarasu, Porasu (Malayalam)
  • Habit : Tree
  • Habitat : Mangrove forests; also grown in gardens and as avenue tree
  • Comments / notes : Common along canals and near habitations. Flowers light yellow while opening, turns pink before closing
  • Key identification features : A small or moderate-sized tree with a furrowed bark. Flowers large and handsome; calyx cup-shaped, truncate; corolla yellow with a purple centre. Capsule depressed, with a blunt ridges above, full of a pale yellow juice when green.
  • Flower, Fruit : August-January
  • Distribution :
    • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
    • Maharashtra : Cultivated in Maharashtra
    • Tamil Nadu : All districts of Tamil Nadu
    • Delhi : Delhi
    • Uttar Pradesh : Uttar Pradesh
    • Andaman and Nicobar Islands : Andaman and Nicobar Islands
  • Native : Aldabra, India, Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Cambodia, Caroline Is., China Southeast, Cocos (Keeling) Is., Djibouti, Eritrea, Fiji, Gilbert Is., Hainan, Hawaii, India, Jawa, Kenya, Lakshadweep Islands, Lesser Sunda Is., Madagascar, Malaya, Ma
  • Exotic/Native : Native
  • World Distribution : Widely distributed in the tropics
  • 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 et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District
    • 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
    • Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1
    • Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
    • Parkinson, C.E. 1923. A Forest Flora of the Andaman Islands, Govt. of India, Shimla: 97
  • Read more :
  • Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2024). India Flora Online. http://indiafloraonline-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Thespesia populnea. Downloaded on 21 November 2024.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Line Drawings

Field Image(s)

India Distribution

World Distribution

Creative Commons License
India Flora Online by Herbarium JCB is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.