Saptarangi / Chinese Salacia
Salacia chinensis
- Habit
- Climbing shrub
- Found in India
- Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka & more
- Flowering
- February-October
How to identify Saptarangi
Identify Saptarangi by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a climbing shrub habit.
- Confirm leaf surface: Glabrous.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: February-October.
- In India, compare location records such as Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Assam and nearby regions.
- Confirm it sits within the Hippocrateaceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Saptarangi.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Salacia chinensis
- Genus
- Salacia
- Family
- Hippocrateaceae
- Habit
- Climbing shrub
- Habitat
- Stream banks of miost deciduous forests and sacred groves
- Distribution
- Indo-Malesia
- Found in India
- Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Assam, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala
- Flowering & fruiting
- February-October
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf surface
- GlabrousrecordedSmooth, hairless.“Leaves are elliptic, narrowly ovate-round or obovate-elliptic 4.2-10.5 cm long and 2.2-4.0 cm wide, and glabrous;” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Characters marked “recorded” are for Saptarangi itself; the rest are typical of the Hippocrateaceae family.
Local Names
- Hindi
- सप्तरंगी Saptarangi
- Bengali
- ডিমল Dimal, মধুফল Modhuphal
- Tamil
- சுண்டன் Cuntan, கருக்குவை Karukkuvai
- Telugu
- నేరాణి Neraani
- Kannada
- ಏಕನಾಯಕ Ekanaayaka
- Malayalam
- ചെറുകൊരണ്ടി Cherukoranti, ഏകനായകം Ekanaayakam
- Marathi
- इंगळी Ingali, निसूल बोंडी Nisul Bondi, सप्तरंगी Saptarangi
About Saptarangi
Chinese Salacia (Salacia chinensis) belongs to the Hippocrateaceae family, where it grows as a climbing shrub. In India it has been recorded in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka and 4 other states. It grows in stream banks of miost deciduous forests and sacred groves. Flowering and fruiting run from February to October.
Hippocrateaceae
Salacia Family
Saptarangi belongs to the Hippocrateaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the Hippocrateaceae familySnap it. Know it.
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Common plant problems
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