Holigarna grahamii (Wight) Kurz, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 41(2): 305 1872. (syn: Catutsjeron grahamii (Hook.f.) Kuntze; Holigarna grahamii Hook.f. [Illegitimate]; Holigarna wightii N.P.Balakr.; Semecarpus grahamii Wight (Unresolved)); Habit- Large trees, up to 35 m tall. Trunk & Bark- Bark smooth, grey. Branches and Branchlets- Branchlets stout, ferruginous pubescent. Exudates- Latex black. Leaves- Leaves simple, alternate, spiral, clustered at the twig ends; petiole 2 cm long, ferruginous tomentose, with 2 pairs of stout, densely tomentose spurs; lamina 15-44 x 10-17 cm, oblanceolate, upper half broadly triangular with acuminate apex, lower half narrow with cuneate base, margin entire, coriaceous, ferruginous tomentose beneath, glabrous above; midrib flat and glabrous above; secondary nerves 22-32 pairs; tertiary nerves broadly reticulate. Inflorescence / Flower- Inflorescence terminal panicle, brown tomentose; flowers polygamous, white. Fruit and Seed- Drupe ellipsoid and little exerted from torus, 2.2 cm long, rusty tomentose, 1-seeded. Canopy trees in semi-evergreen to wet evergreen forests at low elevations (between 200 and 700 m). Endemic to Western Ghats, common from South Sahyadri to Central Sahyadri and rare in North Sahyadri. Attributions- B. R. Ramesh, N. Ayyappan, Pierre Grard, Juliana Prosperi, S. Aravajy, Jean Pierre Pascal, The Biotik Team, French Institute of Pondicherry. from India Biodiversity Portal) .
Request for ID: 290110-AK-1 : 3 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (1) Picture taken on the 1st of Dec, 09 at Mahabaleshwar. Kindly help in identifying please. Holigarna grahamii
Holigarna evergrreen sp. : 5 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (6) The beautiful evergreen species seen by us for the first time. The leaves have 2 to 4 spurs near the petioles. Seen at various places at Kulgi, Anashi and Ulvi WLS Karnataka last week of April, ’10. Most probably it is H. grahami (Wt.) Kurz. would appreciate validation of the same. I think this is Holigarna grahamii from the family Anacardiaceae (Cashernut family) Thanks for confirming the ID … The spelling in Dr. Almeida’s flora is with one ‘ i ‘ only for grahami. What to follow? Kidly give a search in Google and see all the plant bases and Herbarium is using “ii” hence i wrote it eben even in Flora of Madras Presidency Ok … Thanks for your efforts, shall correct it to H. grahamii. I saw many such trees with very large leaves in Amboli as well as in Amba ghat area. It was not flowering Yes … the tree is Holigarna grahamii. I can see the spurs too and the distinct triangular shape of the leaves from the middle. Dr. Almeida’s flora does mention distribution in Amboli, Konkan, mira hills near Pen, Khandal, Ramghat, Radhanagri. The tree has resin and leaves can cause itching if touched.
ID-TSP05DEC2015-1: Holigarna sp (Anacardiaceae) for further ID. : 9 posts by 4 authors. Attachments (5) Kindly identify this Holigarna specimen. Is this Holigarna arnottiana or Holigarna ferruginea…??? Habit: Tree Habitat: Semi-evergreen forest Sighting: Balehonnur, Chikmagalur, Karnataka, about 1100 msl Date: 26-11-2015 Leaves have to be more than 30 cm long, rusty pubescent beneath and the fruit has to be less than 1 cm long for it to be H ferruginea. I can barely see underside of leaves to call it ferruginea. You need to confirm other features. Thanks … for the feedback. How about H.arnottiana…?? I strongly believe that the uploaded images are that of a specimen belonging to the genus Holigarna. The Digita Flora of Karnataka describes five species that are known to occur in Karnataka...H.arnottiana, H.ferruginea, H.grahamii, H.nigra and H.beddomei….. If H.arnottiana and H.arnottiana are ruled out the options narrow down to the remaining three H.grahamii, H. nigra and H.beddomei….! No images of are avaliable in that site for H.beddomei . A detailed floral desciption is provided for H.grahamii . But I am not able to decipher this….! Moreover, H.grahamii is known to occur in the region where the instant specimen was found…! Would the experts kindly examine…? I understand that it is difficult to identify a specimen by images alone,but I am left with no options except the images that I have uploaded…! Ref: Description for H.grahamii for ready reference. http://florakarnataka.ces.iisc.ernet.in/hjcb2/herbsheet.php?id=280&cat=1 Keeping my fingers crossed…!!! It is needless to emphasize that here comes the need for collection and preparation of herbarium specimens! On perusal of references & posts at Holigarna grahamii , I agree with you. But I am not sure Id can be confirmed only from specimens of leaf and fruit. These do not show in the pictures. Till then it can be only guessed. Thanks … I will try to get some pics of leaves and fruits as well when I visit next. Thanks for your feed back. It look like Holigarna grahamii
Holigarna grahamii (Wight) Kurz (Anacardiaceae) – a rare endemic of the Western Ghats, India. : 1 post by 1 author. Attachments (3)
Holigarna arnottiana FOR VALIDATION :: Vythiri, Wayanad :: 15 NOV 19 : 6 posts by 4 authors. 5 images. Dear friends, Please validate whether Holigarna arnottiana. Hopefully the inflorescence, leaves and trunk gives some hint to recognize the species. Holigarna grahamii no wonder i have never seen it. i found its distribution in india in this map Yes, …!! .
ID. Please : 3 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (3) Your help in Identification of this Tree? with unusual leaves. location:Aambyvalley Rd.,Off Lonavala,Pune date:Feb 19 Habitat:Wild Habit:Tree? Other: I saw some red tiny flowers but not sure some red is visible Holigarna species, probably H. grahamii . Malayalam names of Holigarna grahamii (Wight) Kurz: ബാൽവുലി balwuli, ബിപിറ്റി bipti, നെയ്ചേര് nai-cheru, വെള്ളചേര് vellacheru I am not satisfied in the first two Malayalam translations because I doubt whether these names exist in Malayalam. Yes, I am in full agreement with you regarding the first two names. Despite being a non-Malayali, I had my own doubts about them. Let us therefore omit them from compilation. I will add only these two: നെയ്ചേര് nai-cheru, വെള്ളചേര് vellacheru . Names of Plants in India :: Holigarna grahamii (Wight) Kurz: ¿ ho-lee-GAR-nuh ? — most probably, from the Kannada name of the plant – ಹೋಲಿಗಾರ holigaara GRAM-ee-eye — named for John Graham, author of Catalogue of Plants (Bombay)commonly known as: blistering varnish tree • Kannada: ದೊಡ್ಡ ಎಲೆ ಹೊಲೆಗಾರ dodda ele holegaara, ಕಂಕಣಗಾಳ kankanagaala • Konkani: बिबोई biboi • Malayalam: ആനച്ചേര് aanacheru • Marathi: बिबोई biboi, सुद्रबिलो sudrabilobotanical names: Holigarna grahamii (Wight) Kurz … homotypic synonyms: Holigarna wightii N.P.Balakr. • Katou-tsjeroe grahamii (Wight) Kuntze • Semecarpus grahamii Wight … POWO, retrieved 25 December 2025 Bibliography / etymology Links listed as references in the notes below, may not remain valid permanently. Portals / websites have a tendency to re-organize / revise their content, leading to change in URLs of pages in their site. Some sites may even close down at their own will. The bits about the languages of India mentioned below are merely some bare facts gathered from the internet; just enough to satisfy curiosity about “where” could the listed names be best prevalent in India. All English transliterated names to be taken sensu amplo. ~~~~~ ENGLISH ~~~~~ written and spoken widely, in most parts of India blistering varnish tree
~~~~~ KANNADA ~~~~~ written in: Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ) … spoken in: Karnataka ದೊಡ್ಡ ಎಲೆ ಹೊಲೆಗಾರ dodda ele holegaara, ಕಂಕಣಗಾಳ kankanagaala
~~~~~ KONKANI ~~~~~ written in: Devanagari (कोंकणी) / Kannada (ಕೊಂಕಣಿ) / Malayalam (കൊങ്കണി) / Perso-Arabic (کونکنی) / Romi (Konknni) … spoken in: Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat बिबोई biboi
~~~~~ MALAYALAM ~~~~~ written in: Malayalam (മലയാളം) … spoken in: Kerala, Lakshadweep ആനച്ചേര് aanacheru
~~~~~ MARATHI ~~~~~ written in: Devanagari (मराठी) … spoken in: Maharashtra, Karnataka बिबोई biboi
सुद्रबिलो sudrabilo
~~~~~ KNOWN DISTRIBUTION in INDIA ~~~~~ Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, *Tamil Nadu; endemic
* no given name / no name found in the regional language(s) of the state ~~~~~ Created on: 18:44 25-12-2025 ¦ Last updated: 17:01 26-12-2025 (DD-MM-YYYY) ~~~~~ Names compiled / updated at https://dineshvalke.blogspot.com/2025/12/holigarna-grahamii-wight-kurz.html both Malayalam and English names are correct Malayalam names added … commonly known as: blistering varnish tree • Kannada: ದೊಡ್ಡ ಎಲೆ ಹೊಲೆಗಾರ dodda ele holegaara, ಕಂಕಣಗಾಳ kankanagaala • Konkani: बिबोई biboi • Malayalam: ആനച്ചേര് aanacheru, നെയ്ചേര് nai-cheru, വെള്ളചേര് vellacheru • Marathi: बिबोई biboi, सुद्रबिलो sudrabilo Tamil (coined) names added … commonly known as: blistering varnish tree • Kannada: ದೊಡ್ಡ ಎಲೆ ಹೊಲೆಗಾರ dodda ele holegaara, ಕಂಕಣಗಾಳ kankanagaala • Konkani: बिबोई biboi • Malayalam: ആനച്ചേര് aanacheru, നെയ്ചേര് nai-cheru, വെള്ളചേര് vellacheru • Marathi: बिबोई biboi, सुद्रबिलो sudrabilo • Tamil: வெள்ளை செரு vellai ceru, வெள்ளை சாரை vellai charai, வெண்சாரை vencharai . Tamil name for Holigarna grahamii (Wight) Kurz: Holigarna arnottiana Hook.f. have following names: கருஞ்செரு karunceru, காட்டுசெரு kattuceru Reference: BIOTIK (Biodiversity Informatics and co-operation in Taxonomy for Interactive shared Knowledge base) I think Holigarna grahamii can be called Vellai ceru, வெள்ளை செரு (in contrast to karunceru or black ceru, which is H. arnottiana), consistent with its Malayalam name Vellacheru. The adjective vellai (= white) seems fitting as the plant features whitish flowers, white latex, pale greyish bark and glaucous leaves. These additional Tamil names (just variants) can be added to H. grahamii: Vellai charai (வெள்ளை சாரை) and Vencharai (வெண்சாரை) since these spellings are also used in the literature for Holigarna (e.g. Biotik, India Biodiversity Portal). PS: The name Charai / Saarai சாரை refers to Buchanania lanzan.
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Holigarna grahamii
Updated on December 31, 2025