| Type | Indigenous |
|---|---|
| Family | Anacardiaceae |
| Synonym | Semecarpus grahamii Wt. |
| Local Name | Cheru |
| Local Name 2 | Vellacheru |
| Habit | Large sized tree |
| Botanical Features | Large evergreen trees, to 30 m high, bark 20-25 mm thick, surface yellowish-grey, mottled with green and white, smooth, lenticellate; outer bark 1-2 mm thick, dead, corky, inner bark thick, brittle, inner layers fibrous; blaze red; exudation scanty, colourless, become black on drying; branchlets brown tomentose. Leaves simple, alternate, clustered at the tips of branchlets, estipulate; petiole 15-50 mm long, stout, broadened at base; spur 2 pairs, stout, persistent, brown tomentose; lamina 15-70 x 7-25 cm, oblanceolate, suddenly broad above the middle, base cuneate or acute, apex acuminate, margin entire, glabrous above, densely golden brown tomentose below, coriaceous; lateral nerves many,. Flowers small, polygamous, dull white, in terminal rusty tomentose panicles; calyx cupular, shortly 5-toothed; petals 5, ; stamens 5; filaments subulate; ovary inferior, 1-celled; styles usually 3.;Fruit a drupe, vertically shallowly grooved, ovoid, reddish-purple. |