Garcinia indica (Thouars) Choisy

CLUSIACEAE (Guttiferae)

 

Vernacular names:

Hindi                - Kokam

Kannada           - Murgina huli mara, Murgal

Malayalam         - Punam puli

Marathi             - Katambi, Kokam, Ratamba

Sanskrit            - Amlavetasa, Tin tidika , Vrksamla

Tamil                - Murgal

 

Threat status:

Vulnerable (A 1 c,d) - Globally

 

Habit: Tree

 

Habitat: Coastal to evergreen forests

 

Altitude: 50 - 1000 m

 

Distribution: Endemic to Western Ghats in Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala and also along coastal forests of Maharashtra, Goa and Kerala. Regional: In Karnataka, occurs along the windward side of Western Ghats in Dakshina Kannada, Coorg, Chickmagalur, Shimoga and Uttara Kannada districts. In Kerala, only old records from Wynaad. In Tamil Nadu, absent in wild but planted in Nilgiris. In Maharashtra, common along the entire coastal forest and Western Ghats. Abundant almost throughout Goa. Commonly cultivated for its fruit.

 

Description: Slender trees, 4-10 m tall, with drooping branches. Wood greyish white. Bark light brown, thin and smooth. Blaze bright yellow. Branchlets sub-cylindrical, slender, hairless. Leaves opposite, 5-10 x 2-5 cm, inverted egg-shaped-oblong to elliptic-Ianceolate, narrowed at base, rounded or shortly acuminate at apex, shiny, dark green; lateral nerves 7-18 pairs, prominent. Male and female flowers are separated, fleshy, stalked, orange-yellow. Male flowers 4-8 in a cluster, about 1.2 cm long; female flowers solitary, terminal. Berries spherical, 3-4 cm across, wine brown or purple or pinkish orange, with persistent calyx lobes; fruit pulp whije with red tinge, acidic, fleshy. Seeds 5-8, flat, smooth, shiny and brown.

 

Phenology: Flowering: November to February; Fruiting: May to August

 

Medicinal uses: The seed butter is used as a remedy in scrofulous diseases, dysentery, mucous diarrhoea and externally applied for excoriations, chaps, fissures of lips and as a substitute for spermaceti. The ripe fruit is anthelmintic and cardiotonic. Root bark, fruit and seed oil are used to cure piles, sprue, abdominal disorders, mouth diseases, cardiac diseases plus worm infestation.

 

Trade information: Local, regional, national and global. Large scale export of 'Garcinia extract' from India has been recorded in recent years. The fruit rind is sold in different markets under the name Kokam, priced at Rs.120/Kg. (Market Studies 1999-2000). The seed extract is also traded under the name Kokamtel, priced at Rs.120 to 170/Kg. (Mumbai Market study, 1999-2000).

 

Mode of propagation: By seeds, stem cuttings and grafts

 

Special characters: Juvenile leaves are pinkish red. Fruits are not ribbed.