Celastrus paniculatus Willd.

 
  • Family : CELASTRACEAE
    (Staff-Tree Family)
  • Family (Hindi name) : MALKANGANI FAMILY (मालकांगनी फैमिली)
  • Family (as per The APG System III) : Celastraceae
  • Synonym(s) : Catha paniculata (Willd.) Scheidw.; Celastrus alnifolius D.Don; Celastrus metzianus Turcz.; Celastrus nutans Roxb.; Celastrus pubescens Wall.; Celastrus racemosus Turcz.; Celastrus rothianus Schult.; Ceanothus paniculatus (Willd.) Roth; Scutia paniculata (Willd.) G.Don; Alsodeia glabra Burgersd.; Rinorea glabra (Burgersd.) Kuntze
  • Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Celastrus paniculatus Willd.
  • Common name : Black oil plant, Climbing staff plant, Intellect plant
  • Vernacular name :
    • Malakamni, Malkungi, Malkangni (Hindi)
    • Kari gonne, Gangudekayi, Jyotisumathi (Kannada)
    • Valulurai (Tamil)
    • Pengu, Pengumal, Karsano, Katta pengu, Laibeheda (Oria)
    • Jyostismati (Sanskrit)
    • Malkanguni, Dhimar-bel, Jyotishmati, Kangli, Kangun, Kazad-Kungoni, Kiri, Piwalvel (Marathi)
    • Cherupunna, Jyothishmathi, Killithinipanji, Paluzhavam, Valuzhavam (Malayalam)
    • Moner tiga, Jyothismati (Telugu)
  • Habit : Liana
  • Habitat : Tropical moist deciduous forests and Tropical semi-evergreen forests
  • Comments / notes : The seeds yield a black oil which is used as a diuretie.
  • Key identification features : Climbing shrub; Flowers pale yellow, green.
  • Flower, Fruit : March-December
  • Distribution :
    • Andhra Pradesh : East Godavari district, Kurnool district, Vishakapatnam district, Chittoor district, Kadapa district, West Godavari district, Srikakulam district
    • Karnataka : Chikkamagaluru district, Kodagu (Coorg) district, Ballari district, Kolar district
    • Kerala : Kannur district, Wayanad district, Kozhikode district, Malappuram district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district, Idukki district, Pathanamthitta district, Kollam district
    • Maharashtra : All districts of Maharashtra
    • Odisha : Mayurbhanj district
    • Tamil Nadu : All districts of Tamil Nadu
    • Madhya Pradesh : Hoshangabad district
    • Uttarakhand : Uttarakhand
    • Sikkim : Sikkim
    • Himachal Pradesh : Mandi district
    • Arunachal Pradesh : Arunachal Pradesh
    • Meghalaya : Meghalaya
    • Assam : Assam
    • Nagaland : Nagaland
    • Delhi : Delhi
    • Uttar Pradesh : Uttar Pradesh
    • Punjab : Punjab
    • Jammu and Kashmir : Jammu and Kashmir
    • Mizoram : Mizoram
    • Andaman and Nicobar Islands : North and Middle Andaman,South Andaman
    • Manipur : Manipur
    • Tripura : Tripura
  • Native : Andaman Islands, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Christmas Island, Hainan, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Islands, Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam
  • Exotic/Native : Native
  • World Distribution : Andaman Islands, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Christmas Island, Hainan, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Islands, Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam
  • Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
  • Literature :
    • Pullaiah et al., 2002 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 1
    • J.L.Ellis, 1987- Flora of Nallamalais 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
    • H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipahar (Similipal), Orissa
    • N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka
    • 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
    • N.P. Sing & S. Karthikeyan 2000. Flora of Maharashtra vol 1. Botanical survey of India, Govt. India.
    • Parkinson, C.E. 1923. A Forest Flora of the Andaman Islands, Govt. of India, Shimla: 128
    • H J, Chowdhery, et al. Flora of Himachal Pradesh. Volume 1, Botanical Survey of India, 1984. Pg.: 146
  • Read more :
  • Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2024). India Flora Online. http://indiafloraonline-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Celastrus paniculatus. Downloaded on 13 February 2025.

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.