• Family : EUPHORBIACEAE
  (Spurge Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : AMLA FAMILY (आँवला फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : Euphorbiaceae
• Basionym : Croton philippensis Lam.
• Synonym(s) : Aconceveibum trinerve Miq.; Copianthus indicus Hill; Croton coccineus Vahl; Croton montanus Willd.; Croton philippensis Lam.; Croton punctatus Retz.; Echinus philippensis (Lam.) Baill.; Macaranga stricta (Rchb.f. & Zoll.) Müll.Arg.; Mallotus bicarpellatus T.Kuros.; Mallotus reticulatus Dunn; Mappa stricta Rchb.f. & Zoll.; Rottlera affinis Hassk.; Rottlera aurantiaca Hook. & Arn.; Rottlera philippensis (Lam.) Scheff.; Rottlera tinctoria Roxb.; Tanarius strictus (Rchb.f. & Zoll.) Kuntze
• Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Mallotus philippensis (Lam.) Mull.Arg.
• Common name : Kamala Tree, Monkey face tree
• Vernacular name :
  • Sindur, Kamala, Rohii (Hindi)
  • Kampillaka, Kumkumada mara (Kannada)
  • Kunnancholai, Korangumanjanathi (Tamil)
  • Kampillaka (Sanskrit)
  • Shendri (Marathi)
  • Sinduri, Kunkumo, Kapilo gundi, Sundari gudi (Oria)
  • Naga racta, Sinduri, Sindhuramu (Telugu)
  • Chenkolli, Kapila, Kuramaddaku, Kurangumanjal, Manjanampottu, Noorimaram, Ponoo, Ponnakam, Shenkolli, Sindooram, Thavatta (Malayalam)
• Habit : Tree
• Habitat : Tropical evergreen forests, Mixed forests
• Comments / notes : Often on hills to 800m, on slopes, by shola borders and in forest clearings. Very common. Fruits are bright red and are used to extract dye.
• Flower, Fruit : June-March
• Collector(s) Name : Arun Singh, Raja K. Swmay
• Collection Date : 09/12/2014
• Collection Nos : HJCB-0021
• Collection Locality : Pudunur R.F., Javadu Hills, Tiruvannamalai district (TN)
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Common
  • Telangana : Common
  • Karnataka : All Districts
  • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
  • Maharashtra : Akola district
  • Odisha : Fairly common in forests
  • Tamil Nadu : Coimbatore district, Dharmapuri district, Dindigul district, The Nilgiri district, Tiruvannamalai district
  • Madhya Pradesh : Hoshangabad district
  • Sikkim : Sikkim
  • Arunachal Pradesh : Kameng
  • Meghalaya : Meghalaya
  • Assam : Assam
  • Nagaland : Nagaland
  • Delhi : Delhi
  • Uttar Pradesh : Maharajganj district
  • Mizoram : Mizoram
  • Andaman and Nicobar Islands : Ritchie\'s Archipelago taluk (Havelock Island),Long Island
  • Manipur : Manipur
  • Tripura : Tripura
• Native : Andaman Islands, Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Cambodia, China, Bhutan, Hainan, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Islands, Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, New Guinea, New South Wales, Nicobar Islands, Northern Territory, Pakistan,
• Exotic/Native : Native
• World Distribution : Andaman Islands, Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Cambodia, China, Bhutan, Hainan, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Islands, Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, New Guinea, New South Wales, Nicobar Islands, Northern Territory, Pakistan, Philippines, Queensland, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature :
  • J.L.Ellis, 1990- Flora of Nallamalais Vol. 2
  • H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 3
  • 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
  • N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka
  • Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (2). 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.
  • Parkinson, C.E. 1923. A Forest Flora of the Andaman Islands, Govt. of India, Shimla: 241
  • G.S Giri., A.Pramanik., H.J. Chowdhery., G.D Pal and S.K. Das (2008). Materials for Arunachal Pradesh, Vol (2), Pg: 378
  • Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1987). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 2.
• Read more :
  • Plants of the World Online
  • World Flora Online
  • Global Plants on JSTOR
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2024). India Flora Online. http://indiafloraonline-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Mallotus philippensis. Downloaded on 2 April 2025.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Line Drawings

Field Image(s)

Habitat

India Distribution

World Distribution