Holigarna arnottiana Hook.f.

 

Scientific Name: Holigarna arnottiana Hook.f.

Family: Anacardiaceae

Synonym: Katou-tsjeroe arnottianum (Hook.f.) Kuntze 

Vernacular name: Chera, Cheru, Charu, Kattuchera, Karinchru 

Habit: Tree

Habitat: Semi-evergreen and Evergreen forests, also in the plains

Flowering & Fruiting: January-July

Distribution: Endemic to Southern Western Ghats

Key identification features: Large trees. Leaves simple, obovate, or oblanceolate, leathery with a pair of deciduous spurs on the petiole. Inflorescence panicle with a pale golden brown tomentum. Fruit elliposoidal drupe, pedicelled, almost entirely included in the torus.

 

Tribal Consumers: Adiya

Uses: Traditionally, its bark and resin are also used in local medicine for treating wounds and inflammation.