Lecythidaceae FAMILY

Careya arborea

Edibility

1/5

Medicinal

3/5

Safety & Hazards

The seeds are slightly poisonous^[1].

Cultivation Details

HabitDeciduous Tree

Growth—

Prefers a well-drained, sandy or even rocky soil^[1]. Requires a sunny position^[1]. In India the annual diameter increment can be up to 0.5 cm, but growth of coppice is faster, 0.6 - 0.9 cm in diameter for 8-year-old coppice shoots^[1]. The tree is highly fire resistant and coppices well^[1].

Propagation

Seed - there is over 90% germination in 11 - 46 days^[1]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Careya+arborea>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

[1]World Agroforesty Centre — http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ ↩︎An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc.
[2]Biotik, Laos — http://biotik.org/species_list_laos.html ↩︎Information on more than 100 species of Laotian trees.
[3]Trade in Indian Medicinal Plants — D.K.Ved, S.Noorunnisa Begum, & K.Ravi Kumar · Apple Academic Press; Oakville, Canada · 2018 · ISBN 978-1-77188-600-0 ↩︎
[4]Useful Fiber Plants of the World — Dodge C.R. · USDA; Washington. · 1897 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ ↩︎A rather dated, but very comprehensive catalogue of fibre plants from around the world. The book can be downloaded from the Internet.
[5]Flowers of India — http://www.flowersofindia.net/ ↩︎A wed site of native Indian plants, plus cultivated and naturalized species. It has good quality photos and terse details on more than 3,000 species and cultivars.