Berrya cordifolia

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Please help with identification : 11 posts by 9 authors.

I photographed these in Chennai (Gandhi Nagar, 3rd Main Road) this evening 924.2.10).

The leaves are from a very tall tree – 10 meters at least. I first thought the leaves looked like those of Scarlet cordia but the texture was different, later someone said that it may be a Lagerstroemia of some kind. But the fruit (240210-01c) looks very different from the fruits I have seen so far…

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Looks like Gmelina arborea (snapdragon tree) to me.

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It looks like Pterygota alata [Buddha’s Coconut] to me.

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Is that a local Verbenaceae? I’m not familiar with it here in the States. I’ll defer to your expertise.

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Another friend of mine who is good with tree identification suggested that it could be Kleihovia hospita (guest tree) – of the Malvacea family. Is that a possibility?

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… am not familiar with the fruits seen in your photo ¿ but are they fruits ? so no comment on ID.

For comparing leaves of different trees, providing links to my photostream at flickr:
Pterygota alata: http://www.flickr.com/search/Pterygotaalata&m=tags
Kleinhovia hospita: http://www.flickr.com/search/Kleinhoviahospita&m=tags
Gmelina arborea: http://www.flickr.com/search/Gmelinaarborea&m=text

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It is definitely not Kleinhovia hospita as that has very distinctive seed-pods with five compartments.

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the dried flowers (?) point towards Dombeya sps.

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if the flowers are covered with a felt or powder like or tiny hair like stuff then it is definitely Pterygota alata. moreover Pterygota is in flowering these days in north India too with temperature hovering around 30C and no rains. I think its definitely Pterygota alata..

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These photographs were earlier referred to me by … of  Nizhal group (with unclear photographs). Somebody identified it as Kelinhovia hospita.   Seeing the leaves I thought the tree must be Pterygota alata.  Later few more photographs (the same photographs sent by you) were provided to me, on request, along with some information on shape of leaves etc. On reading the information provided by them about the texture of the leaves and also comparing the latest photographs showing the shape of the leaves, fruits (winged)  etc.,  I identified the tree as Berrya cordifolia (commonly called trincomallee wood, Chamu’lai). These are very tall trees. In all probabalities, it should be Berrya cordifolia only.  Nevertheless, the photographs are sometimes misleading as the leaves of many trees look aliike in photographs and one should take into account the nature of flowers, frutis etc. before confirming.

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