• Family : LOGANIACEAE
  (Logania Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : KAJARA FAMILY (कजरा फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : LOGANIACEAE
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Strychnos potatorum L.f.
• Common name : Clearing nut tree
• Vernacular name : Nirmali (Hindi) Nirmali, Nelmal, Koyar, Katako, Kaya, Kotaki (Oria); Chilu (Kannada); Thethamkottai, Kalkottai, Sirungarumaram, Sillamaram (Tamil); Chilla ginja, Chilla, Indupa, Indiba chettu, Chilaka mushti, Katakamu (Telugu); Katak, Ambuprasaad (Sanskrit); Chilla, Kadakam, thettamaram, Thrttamparel (Malayalam)
• Habit : Tree
• Habitat : Dry deciduous and mixed forests
• Comments / notes : On foothills to 800m. The seeds are used in clearing muddy water or impurities just as an alum.
• Flower, Fruit : April-December
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : All districts of Andhra Pradesh
  • Kerala : Kozhikode district, Palakkad district, Idukki district
  • Odisha : Ganjam district, Mayurbhanj district, Puri district, Angul district, Cuttack district, Sambalpur district, Kalhandi district
  • Tamil Nadu : All districts of Tamil Nadu
• Native : India
• World Distribution : India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Pullaiah et al., 2011 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 4; J.L.Ellis, 1990- Flora of Nallamalais Vol. 2; H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 2; 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; Sudhakar Reddy, C et al., 2009. Tree Wealth of Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, India; Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Strychnos potatorum. Downloaded on 6 May 2024.

Botanical Description

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