Chaetocarpus castanocarpus (Roxb.) Thwaites, Enum. Pl. Zeyl. 275. 1861; Müll.Arg. in DC., Prodr. 15(2): 1122. 1866; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 5: 460. 1887. Adelia castanicarpa Roxb., Fl. Ind., ed. Carey 3: 848. 1832.

Trees or large shrubs, 5 - 25 m tall. Leaves ovate-elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, rounded to acute at base, narrowly rounded to acute or acuminate and mucronulate at apex, 3.5 - 18.5 x 1.5 - 8 cm, coriaceous, glabrous; lateral nerves 7 - 12 pairs; petioles (3-) 8 - 17 mm long; stipules obliquely lanceolate to falcate, 3 - 6.5 x 0.6 - 2.2 mm. Inflorescences axillary, clustered. Male flowers: pedicels 3.8 – 4.5 mm long; calyx 4-lobed, pubescent outside; lobes ovate to rounded, 1.5 - 3 x 1.5 - 3.5 mm; disc lobed; stamens 8, 2.8 - 5 mm long; filaments connate into 3 - 5 mm long white hairy androphore at base; free upper portion 0.4 - 1 mm long; anthers oblong-triangular, 0.5 - 1.2 x 0.4 - 0.6 mm; pistillode 3-lobed, villous. Female flowers: pedicels 3.3 – 5 mm long; calyx as in male; disc urceolate; gynophore up to 0.5 mm long; ovary ovoid, 1 - 1.3 mm long, densely hispid; styles 0.3 - 1.2 mm long, densely ciliate; stigmatic lobes 1 - 2 mm long. Fruits ovoid or subglobose, 10 - 18 mm across, densely echinate with ca 3 mm long glochidiate tawny-brittle spines, yellow, turning reddish brown; seeds ca 5 x 3 mm, with red aril.

Fl. & Fr. Nov. - April.

Distrib. India: Primary and secondary lowland forests, coastal swampy forests, in mixed dipterocarp forests, along river banks and submontane forests, on sandy loam, clayey loam or rocky soil, from sea level to 500 m altitude. Assam, Meghalaya and (?)Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo.

Uses. The wood is useful as light duty timber for building purposes and poles. In NE. Malesia the young leaves are cooked and eaten as spinach or chopped up with rice (Corner, Ways. Trees Malaya 1: 244. 1940).