Aphanamixis polystachya (Wallich) R. Parker in Indian Forester 57: 486. 1931. Aglaia polystachya Wallich in Roxb., Fl. Ind. 2: 429. 1824. Andersonia rohituka Roxb., Fl. Ind. 2: 213. 1832. Amoorra rohituka (Roxb.) Wight & Arn. in Wight, Cat. Indian Pl. 24. 1833 & Prodr. 119. 1834; Beddome, Fl. Sylv. S. India t. 132. 1871; Hiern in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 559. 1875.

Tree, evergreen, 5 - 20 m tall with a dense spreading, umbrella-shaped crown. Leaves alternate, crowded at ends of branchlets, 20 - 70 cm long; rachis to 12 cm long; leaflets 9 - 19, opposite or subalternate, oblong-ovate or oblanceolate, obliquely acute or caudate at base, entire along margins, abruptly acuminate at apex, 8 - 25 x 4 - 10 cm; secondary nerves 12 - 15 on each side; petiolules 3 - 5 mm long, that of terminal leaflet to 2 cm long. Flowers bracteate, sessile, rarely shortly pedicellate, dull-white. Male spikes panicled, as long as leaves; female spikes much shorter. Female flowers larger than male flowers. Calyx 5-lobed with ciliolate margins. Petals 3, broadly elliptic to orblcular, concave, ca 5 x 4 mm, glabrous or puberulous outside, sparsely hairy inside. staminal tube nearly as long as petals, with a small opening at apex showing protruded apices of anthers; anthers 6, subsessde. Antherodes narrower, without pollen. Disk broadly conical, tawny-pubescent. Ovary subglobose or ellipsoid; stigma 3-lobed. Pistillode with rudimentary ovules. Capsules obovoid, 2.5 - 4 cm across, 3-valved, coriaceous, smooth, yellow or purplish, soft, fleshy; seeds oblong with a scarlet aril.

Fl. & Fr. Jan. - Dec.

Distrib. India: Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, Daman & Diu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Occurs almost throughout India except the north and northwestern parts.

Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Uses. Oil obtained from the seeds is used for illumination and as a liniment in rheumatism; also applied in sores.

Notes. Amoora beddomei Kosterm. (in Acta Bot. Neerl. 31: 113. 1982) was synonymized under Aphanamixis polystachya by Mabberley (in Blumea 31: 133 - 138. 1985). With the distinctly pedicellate flowers and the much thinner inner 3 sepals Amoora beddomei can be a variety of Aphanamixis polystachya.