- Family : STERCULIACEAE
(Sterculia Or Cocoa Family)
- Family (Hindi name) : COCOA FAMILY
- Family (as per The APG System IV) : Malvaceae
- Synonym(s) : Clompanus africana (Lour.) Kuntze; Sterculia triphaca R.Br.; Triphaca africana Lour.; Clompanus arabica (T.Anderson) Kuntze; Sterculia abyssinica R.Br.; Sterculia africana var. socotrana (K.Schum.) Fiori; Sterculia arabica T.Anderson; Sterculia guerichii K.Schum.; Sterculia ipomoeifolia Garcke; Sterculia triphaca var. guerichii K.Schum.; Sterculia triphaca var. socotrana K.Schum.
- Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Sterculia africana (Lour.) Fiori
- Common name : African star chestnut, Tick tree, Umbrella tree
- Habit : Tree
- Habitat : Cultivated
- Key identification features : Deciduous tree, 10–15 meters tall, with a thick, fluted trunk; Branches erect, spread to form a rounded crown; Bark initially smooth and shiny white, later flaking irregularly into patches, revealing a mosaic of purple, green, white, and brown underbark; Leaves clustered near branch tips, deeply lobed, over 10cm across, petiole reach 10cm in length, lobes pointed; Flowers appear on bare branches before leaves emerge, in branched inflorescences up to 9 cm long, unisexual flowers; Perianth sepals only, green-yellow with red honey-guide lines inside, up to 2.5 cm across; Fruit 1-5 woody, beaked follicles, covered with yellow hairs, only one side opens to release 3–10 fat, blue-grey seeds that dangle like ticks from the edge, irritating hairs present between seeds.
- Flower, Fruit : April-November
- Distribution :
- Tamil Nadu : Chennai district
- West Bengal : West Bengal
- Delhi : Delhi
- Native : Angola, Botswana, Caprivi Strip, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Oman, Socotra, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe
- Exotic/Native : Exotic
- World Distribution : NE. Tropical Africa, Tanzania to Namibia, S. Arabian Peninsula
- Literature :
- Narasimhan, D. & Irwin, Sheeba. (2021). Flowering Plants of Tamil Nadu: A Compendium.
- Read more :
- Permalink : https://indiatrees-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Sterculia africana
- Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2026). India Trees and Vegetation Types. Sterculia africana. Downloaded on 3 October 2026.
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