Vatica chinensis

Syn. Pteranthera chinensis

IUCN Red List Endangered (EN)

Local name

Cheru piney (English)
Valleipayin (Malayalam/Kannada)

Tree type

Evergreen Deciduous

Family: Dipterocarpaceae

15m

Indicated uses

Medicinal Edible Ornamental Avenue Other

Flowering & fruiting

Flowering Fruiting

Key characters

Bark

Grey-brown, rough, scaly to shallowly fissured; resinous

Leaves

Simple, alternate, elliptic-oblong, leathery, glossy above, entire; young parts rusty-hairy

Flower

Small, pale yellow-white, fragrant, in terminal and axillary panicles

Fruit / Seeds

Round, nut-like, 1-seeded fruit enclosed by the persistent calyx; seed recalcitrant (loses viability in days)

Did you know?

Needs shade, humidity and regular irrigation. The species is currently found to occur in about 15 localities. Considering the present distribution and the magnitude of land conversion that has happened in plains, and also in the sacred groves, this species has undergone habitat fragmentation over the past.

Distribution

Southern Western Ghats (Kerala, Tamil Nadu), Sri Lanka, southern China and Indo-China; lowland wet evergreen forest