Calophyllum inophyllum L.

 
  • Family : CLUSIACEAE
    (Garcinia Or Kokam Family)
  • Family (Hindi name) : KOKAM FAMILY (कोकम फैमिली)
  • Family (as per The APG System IV) : Calophyllaceae
  • Synonym(s) : Balsamaria inophyllum Lour.; Calophyllum apetalum Blanco; Calophyllum blumei Wight; Calophyllum inophyllum var. takamaka Fosberg; Calophyllum inophyllum var. wakamatsui (Kaneh.) Fosberg & Sachet; Calophyllum ovatifolium Noronha; Calophyllum spurium Choisy; Calophyllum wakamatsui Kaneh.
  • Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Calophyllum inophyllum L.
  • Common name : Alexdranian Laurel, Common Poon, Dilo oil tree
  • Vernacular name :
    • Surpan, Sultan Champa, Surpunka (Hindi)
    • Honne, Surahonne, Kalhonne (Kannada)
    • Pinnai (Tamil)
    • Ponna, Puna (Telugu)
    • Poonang, Polang (Oria)
    • Punnaga, Panchakeshera (Sanskrit)
    • Pinna, Punna, Surampunna (Malayalam)
    • Wumaka (Marathi)
  • Habit : Tree
  • Habitat : Found growing at the water's edge along the seashoresr; never found Inland.
  • Comments / notes : Resin yellowish green and scented. The seed yeild oil.
  • Key identification features : A handsome medium to large size evergreen tree with milky latex. Leaves are simple, opposite decussate, oblong-ovate with several closely set parallel lateral veins. Flowers are in axillary, few-flowered corymbose inflorescence, about 4 cm. across, fragrant, showy and bear many free stamens. Fruit is hard, globoid, of 3-4 cms dia. resembling a golf ball, green but turning yellow when ripe. Bark is dark reddish-brown with vertical furrows and horizontal cracks.
  • Flower, Fruit : March-November
  • Collector(s) Name : Cecil J. Saldanha, P.Prakash
  • Collection Locality : Someshwar beach (Dakshina Kannada)
  • Distribution :
    • Karnataka : All districts of Karnataka
    • Kerala : Kasaragod district, Kannur district, Kozhikode district, Malappuram district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district, Ernakulam district, Kottayam district, Alappuzha district, Kollam district, Thiruvananthapuram district
    • Tamil Nadu : All districts of Tamil Nadu
    • Puducherry : Puducherry
    • Andaman and Nicobar Islands : Galathea to Pygmalion Point in S. Nicobar, Dugong creek in L. Andaman, Neil Island in South and Middle Andaman, Great Nicobar Island
  • Native : Aldabra, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Australia, Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Cambodia, Caroline Islands, Chagos Archipelago, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Comoros, Cook Islands, Fiji, Gilbert Islands, Hainan, Hawaii, India, Jawa, Kazan-retto, Kenya, Lakashadweep Islands, Laos, Lesser Sunda Islands, Madagascar, Malaya, Maldives, Maluku, Marianas, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mozambique, Mozambique Channel Islands, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Niue, Ogasawara-shoto, Philippines, Rodrigues, Réunion, Samoa, Santa Cruz Islands, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, South China Sea, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tokelau-Manihiki, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Wallis-Futuna Islands
  • Exotic/Native : Native
  • World Distribution : Paleotropics
  • Conservation Status : Least Concern (LC)
  • Literature :
    • Flora of Karnataka, Saldanha, 1984
    • Rao & Razi, 1981 - Mysore
    • Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2003 - Udupi
    • Pullaiah et al., 2002 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 1
    • H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1994- Flora of Orissa Vol. 1
    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1.
    • Matthew, K.M., Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983
    • Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1
    • Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
    • Parkinson, C.E. 1923. A Forest Flora of the Andaman Islands, Govt. of India, Shimla: 87
    • K.Ravikumar, A.C.Tangavelou, & Navendu Page. (2021). Seed plants of Karnataka, India: A concise dictionary. FRLHT-TDU, National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), Chennai.
    • P. S. N. Rao, P. M. Padhey, B. K. Sinha, H. S. Debnath, P. Lakshminarasimhan, & L. N. Ray. (1999). Flora of Andaman-Nicobar Islands (Vol. 1). Director, Botanical Survey of India.
    • B. K. Sinha. (1999). Flora of Great Nicobar Island (P. K. Hajra & P. S. N. Rao, Eds.). Botanical Survey of India.
  • Read more :
  • Permalink : https://indiatrees-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Calophyllum inophyllum
  • Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2026). India Trees and Vegetation Types. Calophyllum inophyllum. Downloaded on 4 October 2026.

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Botanical Description

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