Ochna gamblei King ex Brandis (OCHNACEAE)
Common names
Tamil: Koorykaly.
Telugu: Kuka-moi.
Description: These are sizable shrubs or petite trees with whitish bark. The leaves form tufts at the ends of branchlets, nearly sessile, and vary in shape from ovate, obovate, oblong to broadly elliptic, reaching up to 14 x 7 cm. They are cordate at the base, and their apex is either obtuse or rounded, with margins that are subtly serrate. The leaves have a glaucous appearance. Flowers in compound, many-flowered inflorescence, up to 4.5 cm across, yellow. Sepals 5, ovate or ovate-oblong. Petals 5-8, obovate. Stamens 35-70; anthers more than twice the length of filaments. Pistils 5-10; styles short, connate. Fruits of 3-5 distinct drupes. Seed erect, oblong.
Flowering & Fruiting: March– October.
Distribution: India: Orissa, Assam, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Common in evergreen and dry deciduous forests of Western Ghats.
