Garcinia morella - Indian Gamboge

Indian Gamboge is an evergreen tree up to 18 m tall. Bark is smooth, dark brown; blaze white. Branchlets are angular, hairless, latex bright yellow, profuse. Leaves are simple, opposite, clustered at branch ends; leaf-stalk 0.6-1.5 cm long, channeled, sheathing at base, hairless. Leaf blade is 6.5-15 x 3.5-8 cm, usually elliptic, sometimes narrow obovate, tip pointed to tapering, base narrowed; leathery or subleathery, hairless; secondary nerves 6-8 pairs; tertiary nerves obscure. Flowers are polygamodioecious, reddish, stalkless; male flowers are 2-4 in in leaf-axils fascicles or on old wood; sepals 4 round, decussate, outer pairs smaller than the inner, hairless; petals 4, little larger than sepals, round, veined, concave; stamens 10-12, monadelphous, the filaments combined in to a subquadrangular central column, anthers red, round; female flowers are borne in leaf-axils, solitary, larger than male flowers. Berry is 3 cm across, 4-seeded. Indian Gamboge is found in Indomalaysia; in the Western Ghats- throughout South and Central Sahyadris. Flowering: February-April.