Meda / Many-Flowered Litsea
Litsea monopetala
- Habit
- Tree
- Found in India
- Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya & more
- Flowering
- Throughout the year
How to identify Meda
Identify Meda 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: Many flower clusters (many-flowered litsea).
- Confirm leaf surface: Pubescent (softly hairy).
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: Throughout the year.
- In India, compare location records such as Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Uttarakhand and nearby regions.
- Confirm it sits within the Lauraceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Meda.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Litsea monopetala
- Genus
- Litsea
- Family
- Lauraceae
- Habit
- Tree
- Habitat
- Semi-Evergreen forests
- Habitat type
- Forest
- Distribution
- India, foothills of Himalayas, Myanmar, Java, China
- Found in India
- Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Punjab, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal
- Flowering & fruiting
- Throughout the year
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf surface
- Pubescent (softly hairy)recorded
Typical of the family
- Arrangement
- Alternate
Characters marked “recorded” are for Meda itself; the rest are typical of the Lauraceae family.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower symmetry
- Actinomorphic (radially symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Panicle
- Fruit
- Drupe
Typical of the Lauraceae family — flowering plants only; individual species can differ.
Local Names
- Hindi
- Meda, Gwa, Singraf, chiru mamidi
- Nepali
- कटमेरो Katamero, कुटमेरो Kutamero, रातमाटी Raatamaati
- Bengali
- Bara-kukurchita
- Tamil
- Maidalagadil, Muchaippeyetti, Picinpattai
- Kannada
- Gajapippali, Hemmudi, Kainji
- Marathi
- Ranamba
About Meda
A member of the Lauraceae family, Many-Flowered Litsea (Litsea monopetala) is a tree. In India it has been recorded in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and 7 other states. It grows in semi-Evergreen forests. It flowers and fruits through much of the year.
Lauraceae
Laurel/Cinnamon family
Meda belongs to the Lauraceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the Lauraceae familySnap it. Know it.
Point your camera at Meda or any plant and SASYA identifies it instantly — on-device, offline, and private.
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.
All plant problem & care guides