Terminalia bellirica

Family / Families: Combretaceae
Scientific Name(s): Terminalia bellirica (Gaertn.) Roxb.
Location(s): Aambyvalley Road, off Lonavala, Maharashtra, India
Entry Author(s): Daniel Mosquin
Copyright Holder(s): satish nikam@Flickr
Image Permissions: Please contact the copyright holder for permission to use.
Photographer(s) Appreciation: Grateful to satish nikam@Flickr for sharing one his many biodiversity photographs. His photograph of Terminalia bellirica was submitted via the Botany Photo of the Day Flickr Pool.
Tags: Combretaceae, Myrtales, via Flickr

Foliage and fruit of Terminalia bellirica

The Combretaceae, represented by this baheda or beach almond, is another new plant family for Botany Photo of the Day. This family of about 500 species is primarily tropical in distribution, with representatives in both the Old and New Worlds.

Terminalia bellirica is known by many more common names than just those two. Flowers of India‘s article on Terminalia bellirica lists an additional three common names in English as well as names in sixteen other languages from India (the page also features some photos by Dinesh Valke, a BPotD photo contributor last week). This doesn’t even count the common names in the other parts of Asia and Australasia where it is native. A multitude of scientific names usually indicates taxonomic confusion, but a number of common names in multiple languages suggests a species of some cultural or economic importance.

The Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) lists human uses in this datasheet on Terminalia bellirica in its Invasive Species Compendium. These include: medicines, invertebrate food for silkworms, animal feed, charcoal, carving wood, resin, and timber products. More details on many of these uses can be gleaned from the Tropical Plants Database: Terminalia bellirica.

Additional photographs and discussion are available via the efloraofindia project: Terminalia bellirica.