Safed Bui / Kapok Bush
Aerva javanica
- Habit
- Herb
- Found in India
- Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat & more
- Flowering
- December-February
How to identify Safed Bui
Identify Safed Bui by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a herb habit.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Dense cottony white flower spikes (kapok bush).
- Confirm leaf shape: Narrow linear.
- Confirm flower arrangement: Spike (stalkless flowers along a stem).
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: December-February.
- In India, compare location records such as Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Punjab and nearby regions.
- Confirm it sits within the Amaranthaceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Safed Bui.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Aerva javanica
- Genus
- Aerva
- Family
- Amaranthaceae
- Habit
- Herb
- Distribution
- Old World tropics, Cape Verde Islands
- Found in India
- Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Punjab, Delhi, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra
- Flowering & fruiting
- December-February
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf shape
- Narrow linearrecorded
Typical of the family
Characters marked “recorded” are for Safed Bui itself; the rest are typical of the Amaranthaceae family.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower arrangement
- Spike (stalkless flowers along a stem)recorded
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Actinomorphic (radially symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Spike
- Fruit
- Achene
Characters marked “recorded” are for Safed Bui itself; the rest are typical of the Amaranthaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Hindi
- सफेद बूई Safed bui
- Bengali
- লাল বিসল্যকরনী Lal bishalyakarani
- Tamil
- சிமிலி Cimili, பெரியபூளை Periya-pulai, பெருபீளை
- Kannada
- ದೊಡ್ಡ ಹಿಂಡಿ ಗಿಡ Dodda hindi gida
- Marathi
- कल Kal, खुल Khul
About Safed Bui
A member of the Amaranthaceae family, Kapok bush (Aerva javanica) is a herb. In India it has been recorded in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and 6 other states. Flowering and fruiting run from December to February.
Amaranthaceae
Amaranth family
Safed Bui belongs to the Amaranthaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
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Common plant problems
If you are starting from symptoms instead of a diagnosis, use the plant disease symptom checker to narrow the cause before treating.
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