Garcinia cowa Roxb. ex DC.

 
  • Family : CLUSIACEAE
    (Garcinia Or Kokam Family)
  • Family (Hindi name) : KOKAM FAMILY (कोकम फैमिली)
  • Family (as per The APG System III) : Clusiaceae
  • Synonym(s) : Cambogia crassifolia Blanco; Garcinia cornea Roxb. ex Sm.; Garcinia dioica Sm.; Garcinia roxburghii Wight; Garcinia umbellifera Wall.; Garcinia wallichii Choisy; Oxycarpus gangetica Buch.-Ham.; Stalagmitis cowa (Roxb. ex Choisy) G.Don; Stalagmitis kydiana G.Don; Stalagmitis umbellata G.Don
  • Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Garcinia cowa Roxb. ex Choisy
  • Common name : Beach Calophyllum, Borneo Mahogany, Cowa fruit, Cowa mangosteen
  • Vernacular name :
    • Kataphal, Kowa (Hindi)
    • Sankadu, Sarbana, Rajkusuma (Oria)
    • Kowa (Malayalam)
  • Habit : Tree
  • Habitat : Tropical evergreen forests, Shola along streams
  • Comments / notes : The acid fruit is eaten and is pleasant to the taste, but is full of a yellow juice which sticks to the teeth and gives one an uncomfortable feeling in the mouth. The young leaves are cooked and eaten as vegetable by Burmans
  • Key identification features : A slender tall tree, with a thin, slightly rough, bleeding bark; cut red, turning brown. Leaves broadly lanceolate, shortly acuminate, glabrous and glossy above, lateral nerves numerous but indistinct. Flower yellow, waxy and polished, in few-flowered axillary cymes; petals thick, rounded, erect and slightly inflexed. Fruit depressed globular with shallow grooves, the size of a lime, smooth and yellow when ripe.
  • Flower, Fruit : December-September
  • Collector(s) Name : Arun Singh, Raja K. Swamy, Navendu Page
  • Collection Date : 27/02/2016
  • Collection Nos : HJCB-0529
  • Collection Locality : Barbera forest, Khurda district (OD)
  • Distribution :
    • Kerala : Wayanad district, Palakkad district, Idukki district
    • Odisha : Mayurbhanj district, Angul district, Sundargarh district
    • Tamil Nadu : The Nilgiri district, Tirunelveli district
    • Sikkim : Sikkim
    • Arunachal Pradesh : Arunachal Pradesh
    • Meghalaya : Meghalaya
    • Assam : Assam
    • Nagaland : Nagaland
    • Mizoram : Mizoram
    • Andaman and Nicobar Islands : Andaman and Nicobar Islands
    • Manipur : Manipur
    • Tripura : Tripura
  • Native : Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam
  • Exotic/Native : Native
  • World Distribution : Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam
  • Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
  • Literature :
    • H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1994- Flora of Orissa Vol. 1
    • H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipahar (Similipal), Orissa
    • 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: 89
  • Read more :
  • Permalink : http://indiaflora-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Garcinia cowa
  • Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2026). India Flora Online. http://indiaflora-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Garcinia cowa. Downloaded on 14 February 2026.

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)

Habitat

Distribution District wise

India Distribution

World Distribution

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