Terminalia phillyreifolia (Van Heurck & Müll.Arg.) Gere & Boatwr.

 
  • Family : COMBRETACEAE
    (Combretum Or Indian Almond Family)
  • Family (Hindi name) : ARJUN FAMILY (अर्जुन फैमिली)
  • Family (as per The APG System IV) : Combretaceae
  • Synonym(s) : Anogeissus acuminata var. phillyreifolia (Van Heurck & Müll.Arg.) Kurz; Anogeissus phillyreifolia Van Heurck & Müll.Arg.
  • Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Terminalia pendula var. phillyreifolia (Van Heurck & Müll.Arg.) Chakrab. & Anand Kumar
  • Common name : Downy-backed button tree, Nunnera
  • Vernacular name :
    • Namai, Numma (Tamil)
  • Habit : Tree
  • Habitat : Tropical dry deciduous forests, Tropical moist deciduous forests, Along river banks
  • Key identification features : Medium to large deciduous tree, grows upto 20m; Bark grey or white; Branches drooping with slightly pendent slender branchlets, branchlets light black, young banchlets golden villous; Leaves simple, opposite or subopposite, elliptic, oblong, ovate, can be lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, 40–80 mm long × 10–30 mm wide, apex acute, obtuse or mucronate, often acuminate, base narrowed or obtuse, adaxial surface green, glabrous to glabrescent, abaxial surface grey-green, pilose, petiole cylindrical, 2-6mm long, golden villous when young; Inflorescence head, solitary or in pairs; Flowers numerous, sessile, yellowish-green, 9-13mm diameter; Bracts linear, 4-5mm, deciduous; Calyx tubular, ~5 mm long, yellow pubescent especially on ovary and tubular parts; Petals absent; Stamens present, filaments 3-4mm long; Ovary monocarpellary; Fruit drupe, about 6*5mm, reddish brown, glossy, surface ferruginous pubescent on the beak and distal part, winged.
  • Flower, Fruit : Throughout the year
  • Distribution :
    • Andhra Pradesh : Andhra Pradesh
    • Kerala : Kerala
    • Odisha : Odisha
    • Tamil Nadu : Chennai district, Coimbatore district, The Nilgiri district, Tirunelveli district
    • Delhi : Lodhi Garden, New Delhi
    • Uttar Pradesh : Uttar Pradesh
  • Native : India, Myanmar
  • Exotic/Native : Native
  • World Distribution : India, Myanmar
  • Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
  • Literature :
    • Narasimhan, D. & Irwin, Sheeba. (2021). Flowering Plants of Tamil Nadu: A Compendium.
    • Rana, T. S., Agnihotri, P., & Prabhukumar, K. M. (2023). Plant Resources of Uttar Pradesh- A checklist. CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute.
    • Naturalis Biodiversity Center U.1224469 - https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/2515330962
  • Read more :
  • Permalink : https://indiatrees-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Terminalia phillyreifolia
  • Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2026). India Trees and Vegetation Types. Terminalia phillyreifolia. Downloaded on 3 October 2026.

Habitat

Distribution District wise

India Distribution

World Distribution
Creative Commons License
India Trees and Vegetation Types by Herbarium JCB is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.