Kodakkapuli / Malabar Gamboge
Garcinia gummi-gutta
- Habit
- Tree
- Found in India
- Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka & more
- Flowering
- January-August
How to identify Kodakkapuli
Identify Kodakkapuli by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a tree habit.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Sour pumpkin-shaped fruit (Malabar tamarind).
- Confirm leaf shape: Elliptic (widest at middle).
- Confirm flower colour: Yellow.
- Confirm fruit type: Berry.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: January-August.
- In India, compare location records such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and nearby regions.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Garcinia gummi-gutta
- Genus
- Garcinia
- Family
- Clusiaceae
- Habit
- Tree
- Habitat
- Along streams in evergreen and semi-Evergreen forests up to 1250m
- Native to
- India
- Distribution
- India, Sri Lanka
- Found in India
- Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal
- Flowering & fruiting
- January-August
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (LC)
Leaf characters
- Leaf shape
- Elliptic (widest at middle)recorded
Typical of the family
- Arrangement
- Opposite
Characters marked “recorded” are for Kodakkapuli itself; the rest are typical of the Clusiaceae family.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- Yellowrecorded
- Fruit type
- BerryrecordedA fleshy fruit with seeds embedded directly in the pulp, no central stone.“Common names include Garcinia cambogia (a former scientific name), as well as brindle berry, and Malabar tamarind.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Typical of the family
- Fruit
- Capsule
Characters marked “recorded” are for Kodakkapuli itself; the rest are typical of the Clusiaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Tamil
- Kodakkapuli, Penampuli, குடம்புளி
- Telugu
- మలబారు చింత
- Kannada
- Manda huli, ಮಂತುಳ್ಳಿ Mantulli, ಪುನರ್ಪುಳಿ Punarpuli, Kadagulu-muruga
- Malayalam
- Gorakkapuli, Pinar, Kodampuli, Kadumpuli
- Marathi
- Dharambe
- Sinhala
- ගොරකා
About Kodakkapuli
A member of the Clusiaceae family, Malabar Gamboge (Garcinia gummi-gutta) is a tree. In India it has been recorded in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and 2 other states. It grows in along streams in evergreen and semi-Evergreen forests up to 1250m. Flowering and fruiting run from January to August.
Uses
It is grown for parts that are eaten and long used in traditional medicine. Those medicinal uses are traditional attributions, not medical advice.
Clusiaceae
Mangosteen/Garcinia family
Kodakkapuli belongs to the Clusiaceae 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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