Flora of India

Turmeric, or Curcuma longa, is a flowering plant in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. It is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia that requires temperatures between 20 and 30 °C (68 and 86 °F) and high annual rainfall to thrive. Plants are gathered each year for their rhizomes, some for propagation in the following season and some for consumption or dyeing. The rhizomes can be used fresh, but they are often boiled in water and dried, after which they are ground into a deep orange-yellow shelf-stable spice powder commonly used as a

Elettaria cardamomum, commonly known as green cardamom or true cardamom, is a herbaceous, perennial plant in the ginger family, native to southern India. It is the most common of the species whose seeds are used as a spice called cardamom that has a strong aroma used in both savory and sweet cooking. It is cultivated widely in tropical regions and reportedly naturalized in Réunion, Indochina, and Costa Rica.

Pterocarpus santalinus, with the common names red sanders, red saunders, Yerra Chandanam, Chenchandanam, red sandalwood, Rakta Chandana, and rakto chandon, is a species of Pterocarpus endemic to the southern Eastern Ghats mountain range of South India. It is known for its red colour and has been used for furniture, musical instruments, and traditional herbal medicine. Because of the high market value for its timber, the species has been overexploited, and illegal trade remains a problem. It is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. It should not be confused with the aromatic Santalum

Garcinia indica, a plant in the mangosteen family (Clusiaceae), commonly known as kokum, is a fruit-bearing tree that has culinary, pharmaceutical, and industrial uses. It grows primarily in India's Western Ghats: in the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala. It is considered as an endemic species to the Western Ghats and forests in India. It grows in coastal and foothill moist forests up to 1,000 metres elevation with more than 2,500 mm of average annual rainfall. It favors lateritic alluvial soils with a depth of one or more metres and pH of 6.7. The species was first described

Garcinia gummi-gutta is a tropical species of Garcinia native to India. Common names include Garcinia cambogia (a former scientific name), as well as brindle berry, and Malabar tamarind. It is a tree which grows up to 20 metres tall. The fruit looks like a small pumpkin and is green to pale yellow in color. The species is native to the central and southern Western Ghats of Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu states in southwestern India. It grows in lowland and montane moist evergreen forest, generally as an understorey tree along stream banks, up to 1,800 metres elevation. It

Cycas circinalis, also known as the queen sago, is a species of cycad known in the wild only from southern India. Cycas circinalis is the only gymnosperm species found among native Sri Lankan flora.

Vateria indica, the white dammar, is a species of tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats mountains in India. It is threatened by habitat loss. It is a large canopy or emergent tree frequent in tropical wet evergreen forests of the low and mid-elevations (below 1200 m).

Curcuma zanthorrhiza, known as temulawak, Java ginger, Javanese ginger, or Javanese turmeric is a plant species, belonging to the ginger family. It is known in Javanese as temulawak, in Sundanese as koneng gede (large turmeric) and in Madurese as temu labak. The scientific name is sometimes written as Curcuma xanthorrhiza, but this is an orthographical variant. This plant originated from Indonesia, more specifically from Java island, out of which it spread to several places in the biogeographical region Malesia. Currently, most of the temu lawak is cultivated in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand,

Thunbergia mysorensis, the Mysore trumpetvine or lady's slipper vine, is a species of flowering plant in the family Acanthaceae. A woody-stemmed evergreen, this vine is native to southern tropical India. The specific epithet mysorensis is derived from the city of Mysore.

Gardenia gummifera is a species of plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is endemic to India.

Ensete superbum is a species of banana from India.

Cycas beddomei is a species of cycad in the genus Cycas, native to India, where it is confined to a small area of Andhra Pradesh state in the Tirumala Hills in scrubland and brush covered hills. Superficially similar to Cycas revoluta, it has erect, solitary stems. There are 20–30 leaves in the crown, each leaf 90 cm long, stiff, lanceolate, pinnate, with 50–100 pairs of leaflets, these 10–17.5 cm long and 3–4 mm wide, and angled forward at 45 degrees; the leaf petiole bears minute spines. The female cones are open, with sporophylls 15–20 cm long, with pink-brown coloured tomentose down, with

Arenga wightii is a species of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae. It is native to the Southern Western Ghats in Kerala in India. This palm has various uses in its communities. Local tribal communities depend on this plant for starch (food supplement) and religious ceremonies. It is also used to cover the roofs of houses due to its string resemblance to coconut leaves. Scientists have discovered that this palm has medicinal value. It is said to have antimicrobial and antioxidant phytochemicals. It is threatened by habitat loss and logging.

Syzygium densiflorum is a species of evergreen tree in the family Myrtaceae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats mountains, India. The species is categorised as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List.

Strobilanthes kunthiana, known as Kurinji or Neelakurinji in Tamil language and Malayalam and Gurige in Kannada, is a shrub of the bear's breeches family (Acanthaceae) that is found in the shola forests of the Western Ghats in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The purplish blue flower blossoms only once in 12 years, and gave the Nilgiri Mountains range its name as nil (blue) + giri (mountains). Of all long interval bloomers (or plietesials) Strobilanthes kunthiana is the most rigorously demonstrated, with documented bloomings in 1838, 1850, 1862, 1874, 1886, 1898, 1910, 1922, 1934, 1946,

Paphiopedilum druryi is a species of orchid endemic to the Agastyamalai Hills of southern India. It is the only southern Indian orchid species in the genus. Rediscovered in 1972 after its original description in 1870, wild populations were decimated by commercial collectors and it is one of the few plants that are listed as threatened by the Indian government and included in CITES and the IUCN Redlist. The species was described by Colonel Richard Henry Beddome in 1870 and named after the collector of the first specimens, Colonel Heber Drury (1819-1905), an amateur botanist who worked in

Hubbardia is a genus in the grass family that is endemic to India. It is the only genus in the tribe Hubbardieae of the subfamily Micrairoideae.

Bulbophyllum rosemarianum is a species of orchid in the genus Bulbophyllum.

Wendlandia angustifolia is a species of plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is endemic to Tamil Nadu, India. The species was presumed to be extinct until 1998, when it was rediscovered after a gap of 81 years near its previously known natural habitat, during an inventory of threatened plants of Kalakkad Mundantharai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu.

Garcinia travancorica is a species of flowering plant in the family Clusiaceae. It is found only in India. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Flacourtia montana is a species of plant in the family Salicaceae. It is native to southern Asia. The species presents as a tree up to 20 m in height.

Dipterocarpus indicus is a species of large tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae endemic to the Western Ghats of India. It is recognised as an endangered species under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021.

Dipterocarpus bourdillonii is a species of large tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae endemic to the Western Ghats principally in the state of Kerala in India. It is a Critically Endangered species according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is a characteristic tree of the low-elevation tropical wet evergreen rainforests in the Western Ghats.

Decalepis hamiltonii is a species of plant in the family Apocynaceae. It is endemic to Peninsular India and known by the names maredu kommulu, nannari kommulu and madina kommulu in Telugu, makali beru and vagani beru in Kannada and magali kizhangu in Tamil. The root is used in Ayurvedic medicines, to make pickles and to make the drink sharbat. The major component of the essential oil of the root is the fragrant phenolic compound 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzaldehyde, a positional isomer of vanillin. The English name swallowroot is sometimes used for the plant and studies have shown that it has

Cynometra beddomei is a species of tree in the family Fabaceae, described from a single tree in the Western Ghats of Kerala in southwestern India. In 1998, it was declared extinct as it had never been seen again since 1870. Trees of the species have subsequently been identified in several parts of Kerala and southern Karnataka. This tree is found in streamside submontane evergreen and semi-evergreen forests from 700 to 1,000 metres elevation. The IUCN Status was updated to reflect this in 2020. It is threatened by habitat loss. The species was first described by David Prain in 1897.

Caralluma adscendens is a succulent plant in the family Apocynaceae. Its distribution ranges from India and Sri Lanka through the Arabian peninsula to North Africa and the Sahel.

Bulbophyllum fimbriatum is a species of orchid in the genus Bulbophyllum in section Cirrhopetalum.

Bhidea is a genus of Indian plants in the grass family. Species Bhidea borii Deshp., V.Prakash & N.P.Singh Bhidea burnsiana Bor Bhidea fischeri Sreek. & B.V.Shetty

Balanites roxburghii is a spiny, evergreen tree in the family Zygophyllaceae. It is common in open sandy plains of the Indian peninsula, western Rajasthan, west Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarat and drier parts of India. The specific epithet roxburghii refers to the Scottish botanist William Roxburgh.

Aralia malabarica is a species of plant in the family Araliaceae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats of southern India. It grows as an understorey tree in submontane evergreen forest.