• Family : RUBIACEAE
  (Madder Or Coffee Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : COFFEE FAMILY (कॉफी फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : Rubiaceae
• Basionym : Gardenia spinosa Thunb.
• Synonym(s) : Randia spinosa (Thunb.) Poir.; Xeromphis spinosa (Thunb.) Keay; Randia dumetorum (Retz.) Lam.; Randia tomentosa Wight & Arn.; Randia spinosa (Thunb.) Poir.
• Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Catunaregam spinosa (Thunb.) Tirveng.
• Common name : Emetic nut, Common Emetic nut, Mountain Pomegranate
• Vernacular name :
  • Madan, Mainphal, Manyol, Karhar (Hindi)
  • Kare, Mangeri, Kaarekaayi-gida (Kannada)
  • Madhukkarai, Maarivalam, Attadikarai, Perumadhukarai, Mathukkaarai, Maalankaarai, Marakkalam (Tamil)
  • Manga (Telugu)
  • Mohana, Salara, Pativa, Patteia, Kalaikanta (Oria)
  • Madana phala (Sanskrit)
  • Gila (Marathi)
  • Kara, Karachulli, Karalikkaya, Kattunaranna, Malankkara (Malayalam)
• Habit : Tree
• Habitat : Tropical moist deciduous forests, Tropical dry evergreen forests
• Comments / notes : Common in dry forests and scrub. Wood is used for making walking sticks. Bark and fruits are medicinal. Fruits are edible after roasting.
• Key identification features : A large spiny shrub; spines axillary. Leaves usually fascicled on short shoots, obovate, ovate or spathulate. Flowers solitary or 2-3 together at the ends of short shoots. Corolla at first white, afterwards beconing yellow. Disc annular or cushion-shaped. Ovary 2-celled with many axile ovules. Fruit is a many-seeded berry.
• Flower, Fruit : Throughout the year
• Collector(s) Name : S.B.Manohar, B.R.Ramesh
• Collection Date : 03-08-1979, 17-05-1979
• Collection Nos : HFP 2755, CJS 14398, KFP 7706, KFP 8741
• Collection Locality : Biligiri Rangan hills, Mysuru district
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Anantapur district, Chittoor district, Y.S.R. Kadapa district, East Godavari district, Guntur district, Krishna district, Kurnool district, S.P.S. Nellore district, Prakasam district, Srikakulam district, Visakhapatnam district, Vizianagaram district, West Godavari district
  • Telangana : Nalgonda district, Khammam district, Mahbubnagar district
  • Karnataka : Kolar district, Bagalkote district, Bengaluru Urban district, Bengaluru Rural district, Ballari district, Belagavi district, Bidar district, Vijayapura (Bijapur) district, Chamarajanagara district, Chikkamagaluru district, Chikkaballapura district, Chitradurga district, Dakshina Kannada district, Davanagere district, Dharwad district, Gadag district, Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) district, Hassan district, Haveri district, Kodagu (Coorg) district, Kolar district, Koppal district, Mandya district, Mysuru district, Raichur district, Ramanagara district, Shivamogga district, Tumakuru district, Udupi district, Uttara Kannada district, Yadgir district
  • Kerala : Kasaragod district, Kannur district, Wayanad district, Kozhikode district, Malappuram district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district, Idukki district, Kottayam district, Pathanamthitta district, Kollam district
  • Maharashtra : Akola district
  • Odisha : Angul district, Balasore district, Bargarh district, Balangir district, Boudh district, Cuttack district, Deogarh district, Dhenkanal district, Gajapati district, Ganjam district, Kalahandi district, Kandhamal district, Kendrapara district, Kendujhar district, Khordha district, Koraput district, Malkangiri district, Mayurbhanj district, Puri district, Rayagada district, Sambalpur district, Sundargarh district
  • Tamil Nadu : Coimbatore district, Dindigul district, Dharmapuri district, Kancheepuram (Changalpattu-CGP) district, Karur district, Krishnagiri district, Madurai district, Namakkal district, Pudukkottai district, Sivaganga district, Salem district, Tiruchirapalli district, Tiruvannamalai district, Villipuram district, Vellore district, The Nilgiri district
  • Madhya Pradesh : Madhya Pradesh
  • Uttarakhand : Uttarakhand
  • Sikkim : Sikkim
  • West Bengal : West Bengal
  • Himachal Pradesh : Himachal Pradesh
  • Arunachal Pradesh : Arunachal Pradesh
  • Meghalaya : Meghalaya
  • Assam : Assam
  • Nagaland : Nagaland
  • Uttar Pradesh : Uttar Pradesh
  • Jammu and Kashmir : Jammu and Kashmir
  • Mizoram : Mizoram
  • Manipur : Manipur
  • Tripura : Tripura
• Native : Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Hainan, India, Jawa, Laos, Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam
• Exotic/Native : Native
• World Distribution : Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Hainan, India, Jawa, Laos, Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature :
  • Saldanha & Nicolson, 1976 - Flora of Hassan district, Karnataka
  • Ramaswamy & Razi, 1973 - Flora of Bangalore district, Karnataka state
  • N.P.Singh, 1988- Flora of Eastern Karnataka
  • Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2014 - Flora of South Kanara
  • J.L.Ellis, 1990- Flora of Nallamalais 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
  • 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
  • Kamble & Pradhan, 1988. Flora of Akola District, Maharashtra. Botanical Survey of India.
  • Gamble, 1921. Fl. Pres. Madr. Vol. 2. pp.616 (434).
• Read more :
  • Plants of the World Online
  • World Flora Online
  • Global Plants on JSTOR
• Permalink : http://indiaflora-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Catunaregam spinosa
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2026). India Flora Online. http://indiaflora-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Catunaregam spinosa. Downloaded on 8 January 2026.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)

Habitat

Distribution District wise

India Distribution

World Distribution