Hopea ponga

Hopea ponga
Fruits, from Peravoor
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Dipterocarpaceae
Genus: Hopea
Species:
H. ponga
Binomial name
Hopea ponga
Varieties
  • Hopea ponga var. cauveriana Kesh.Murthy & Yogan.
  • Hopea ponga var. ponga
Synonyms
  • Artocarpus ponga Dennst.

of var. ponga:

  • Artocarpus canaranus Miq.
  • Broussonetia integrifolia Buch.-Ham.
  • Hopea wightiana Wall. ex Wight & Arn.

Hopea ponga is a species of flowering plant in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It is a tree endemic to southwestern and southern India. It is also known as kambakam (കമ്പകം) in Malayalam language.

It is gregarious tree which grows up to 25 metres tall. It is widespread in low- and medium-elevation evergreen and semi-evergreen rainforests of the Malabar coastal plain and Western Ghats from 25 to 900 metres elevation.

Two varieties are accepted:

  • Hopea ponga var. cauveriana Kesh.Murthy & Yogan. – Karnataka
  • Hopea ponga var. ponga – Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu