Hydnocarpus macrocarpa (Beddome) Warb. in Engler & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. 3, 3: 21. 1893. Asteriastigma macrocarpa Beddome, For. Man. Bot. t. 266. anal. pl. 27. 1873; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 1: 52. 1915. Taraktogenos macrocarpa (Beddome) Balakr. in J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 67: 57. 1970.

Trees, 15 - 40 m tall evergreen; outer bark light brownish with aromatic cyanide-like smell; inner bark ca 5 mm thick, pale purple brown; branchlets minutely yellowish pubescent. Leaves oblong, elliptic-oblong or oblanceolate, cuneate and inequilateral at base, usually abruptly short acuminate at apex, entire, 15 - 30 x 4.5 - 10 cm, glabrous, except sometimes sparsely hirtellous beneath along midrib and veins near base, pustulate below; secondary veins ca 7 pairs, prominently raised beneath; petioles 1 - 2 cm long, hirtellous. Flowers polygmous, foul-smelling, greenish white. Male flowers 2 - 2.5 cm across, 3 - 4 each in 2 - 3 racemose fascicles on a moderately thick common axillary ca 10 mm long peduncle; pedicels ca 8 mm long, ferruginous tomentose. Sepals ovate-suborbicular or suborbicular, ca 9 x 4 mm, minutely appressed puberulous, ciliate along margins. Petals elliptic-oblong to obovate-oblong, ca 6 x 4 mm, densely ciliate along margins; epipetalous scales obovate, 3-ribbed inside and 3-fid at apex, ca 4 mm long, densely pilose. Stamens 50 - 60 (-70), many-seriate, shorter than petals. Female flowers few in racemose fascicles on short peduncles arising from older nodes; pedicels ca 10 mm long. Staminodes usually as many as stamens. Ovary ovoid, densely brownish tomentose; stigmas 6. Berries globose, 12 - 15 cm across; pericarp woody, dark brown rugose, minutely pubescent; exocarp radially fibrous, 10 - 15 mm thick. Seeds ca 5o, ovoid-oblong and variously angular, ca 3 x 2 cm, dark brown.

Fl. Feb. - April; probably throughout the year in flashes; fruiting afterwards.

Distrib. India: Evergreen forests of S. Western Ghats between 100 - 2000 m. Kerala (Idukki and Thiruvananthapuram) and Tamil Nadu (Kanniyakumari).

Endemic.