• Family : HYPOXIDACEAE
  (Lily Or African Potato Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : KALI MUSLI FAMILY (काली मूसली फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : Hypoxidaceae
• Synonym(s) : Hypoxis orchioides (Gaertn.) Kurz; Gethyllis acaulis Blanco; Curculigo brevifolia Dryand. ex W.T.Aiton; Curculigo densa W.Bull; Curculigo firma Kotschy & Peyr.; Curculigo malabarica Wight; Curculigo orchioides var. minor Benth.; Curculigo pauciflora Zipp. ex Span.; Curculigo petiolata Royle; Curculigo stans Labill.; Franquevillea major Zoll. ex Kurz; Hypoxis dulcis Steud. ex Baker; Hypoxis minor Seem.
• Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Curculigo orchioides Gaertn.
• Common name : Yellow Groundstar, Black musale
• Vernacular name :
  • Kaalimusli, musli, Musor, Musal khand, Kalsmusali, Mushali (Hindi)
  • Nela taale gaddi (Kannada)
  • Nilappanai, Tharaippanai (Tamil)
  • Talamuli (Sanskrit)
  • Kajuri (Marathi)
  • Thalmuli, Maniakanda, Maini kuakenda, Mosania Kandha, Baria Kandha, Kuthra gulam, Kovaa kaanda (Oria)
  • Nelatatygadda, Nallatadi, Pilli tega, Sukka dumpa (Telugu)
  • Nelpana, Nilappana (Malayalam)
• Habit : Herb
• Habitat : Tropical moist deciduous forests and grasslands, also in the plains
• Comments / notes : On plains to 1600m, on the floor of scrub jungles and slopes of hills. Abundant on disturbed ground.
• Flower, Fruit : April-December
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Anantapur district, Chittoor district, Kadapa district, East Godavari district, Guntur district, Krishna district, Kurnool district, Nellore district, Prakasam district, Srikakulam district, Vishakapatnam district, Vizianagaram district, West Godavari district
  • Telangana : Nalgonda district, Khammam district, Mehboobnagar district
  • Karnataka : Ballari district, Kolar district, Chamarajanagar district
  • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
  • Maharashtra : All districs of Maharashtra
  • Odisha : Angul district, Balasore district, Bargarh district, Bolangir district, Boudh district, Cuttack district, Deogarh district, Dhenkanal district, Gajapati district, Ganjam district, Kalhandi district, Kandhamal district, Kendrapara district, Keonjhar district, Khurda district, Koraput district, Malkangiri district, Mayurbhanj district, Puri district, Rayagada district,Sambalpur district, Sundergarh district
  • Tamil Nadu : Coimbatore district, Dindigul district, Dharmapuri district, Kanchipuram (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,
  • Uttarakhand : Uttarakhand
  • Sikkim : Sikkim
  • Himachal Pradesh : Himachal Pradesh
  • Arunachal Pradesh : Kameng, Tirap
  • Meghalaya : Meghalaya
  • Assam : Assam
  • Nagaland : Nagaland
  • Jammu and Kashmir : Jammu and Kashmir
  • Mizoram : Mizoram
  • Andaman and Nicobar Islands : Andaman and Nicobar Islands
  • Manipur : Manipur
  • Tripura : Tripura
• Native : Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Borneo, Cambodia, Caroline Islands, China, India, Japan, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Islands, Maluku, Marianas, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Pakistan, Philippines, Solomon Islands,
• Exotic/Native : Native
• World Distribution : Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Borneo, Cambodia, Caroline Islands, China, India, Japan, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Islands, Maluku, Marianas, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Pakistan, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Taiwan, Thailand, Vanuatu, 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
  • B. D. Sharma, S. Karthikeyan & N. P. Singh 1996 - Flora of Maharashtra state - Monocotyledons
  • 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.
  • H J, Chowdhery, et al. Materials for Flora of Arunachal Pradesh. Volume 3, Botanical Survey of India, 2009. Pg.: 197-198
• 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=Curculigo orchioides. Downloaded on 26 July 2024.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)

India Distribution

World Distribution