Statue of Unity – Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat Rain Forest Ektanagar

Hydnocarpus pentandrus

Syn. Chilmoria pentandra

IUCN Red List Vulnerable (VU)

Local name

  • Jangli Almond (English)
  • Calmogara (Hindi)
  • Tuvaraka (Sanskrit)

Tree type

Evergreen Deciduous
Family: Achariaceae
10m

Indicated uses

Medicinal Edible Ornamental Avenue Other

Flowering & fruiting

Flowering Fruiting

Key characters

Hydnocarpus pentandrus bark

Bark

Bark is brownish, fissured; blaze pinkish. Branchlets are round, minutely velvet-hairy.

Hydnocarpus pentandrus leaves

Leaves

Simple, alternate, oblong to elliptic-oblong, 8–23 × 3.5–10 cm, papery, glabrous, toothed margins, long-pointed apices, narrowed bases, 5–7 pairs of secondary veins and 0.7–2.2 cm petioles.

Hydnocarpus pentandrus flower

Flower

Flowers are borne in short cymes or solitary, in leaf axils. Petals are white.

Hydnocarpus pentandrus fruit / seeds

Fruit / Seeds

Berry is woody, round, 6-10 cm across usually brown tomentose, seeds yield chaulmoogra oil.

Hydnocarpus pentandrus

Did you know?

Before electricity and kerosene reached remote Konkan and Malabar villages, communities extracted oil from its fallen fruits using wooden presses and used it to fuel household lamps.

Distribution

World map showing distribution

South India, Western Ghats, South, Central Sahyadris, Bangladesh, Myanmar