Botanica Marina 2015; aop

Short communication
P. Ragavan*, Alok Saxena, R.S.C. Jayaraj, K. Ravichandran, P.M. Mohan and Mani Saxena

Taxonomy and distribution of little known species

of the genus Xylocarpus (Meliaceae) in the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India
DOI 10.1515/bot-2015-0002
Received 5 January, 2015; accepted 6 August, 2015

Abstract: A recent floristic survey revealed the occurrence of three species of Xylocarpus in the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands, India. Of these, Xylocarpus granatum
and X. moluccensis are true mangrove species, whereas
X. rumphii is a non-mangrove species. All three Xylocarpus species were recorded from the Andaman Islands,
but none of them have been recorded from the Nicobar
Islands. The key distinguishing characters of X. granatum,
X. moluccensis and X. rumphii are described to resolve
the nomenclatural ambiguity of Xylocarpus spp. in the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Keywords: Andaman and Nicobar Islands; mangroves;
taxonomy; Xylocarpus spp.

The genus Xylocarpus Koenig belongs to the family

Meliaceae and has three distinct species, namely,

X. granatum J. Koenig, X. moluccensis (Lam.) M. Roem.

and X. rumphii (Kostel.) Mabb. Of these, X. granatum and
*Corresponding author: P. Ragavan, Department of Ocean Studies
and Marine Biology, Pondicherry University, Brookshabad Campus,
Post Bag No. 01, Port Blair 744112, Andaman and Nicobar Islands,
India, e-mail: van.ragavan@gmail.com
Alok Saxena: Additional Director, Indira Gandhi National Forest
Academy, New Forest P.O. Dehradun 248006, Uttarakhand, India
R.S.C. Jayaraj: Director, Rain Forest Research Institute, Jorhat,
Assam-785010, India
K. Ravichandran: Conservator of Forest, Department of Environment
and Forests, Haddo, Port Blair-744101, Andaman and Nicobar
Islands, India
P.M. Mohan: Professor, Department of Ocean Studies and Marine
Biology, Pondicherry University, Brookshabad Campus, Post Bag
No. 01, Port Blair 744112, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India
Mani Saxena: Independent researcher

X. moluccensis occur in mangroves, whereas X. rumphii

normally grows above the limit of tidal reach in cliffs,
rocks and sandy upland areas (Duke 2006). These species
are distributed in tropical tidal forests of the Indo-West
Pacific region,
considered as part of the Old World
Mangroves region from Africa to Australia, including India
and the Malayan Archipelago (Tomlinson 1986). The earliest record of this genus from India was made by Hooker
(1882). Species of Xylocarpus are mentioned earlier under
the generic name of Carapa by some authors (Hooker
1882, Parkinson 1923, Gamble 1957), but the confusing
synonymy between the genera Xylocarpus and Carapa was
resolved later (Noamesi 1958, Pennington and Styles 1975,
Kenfack 2008, 2011).
The genus Carapa Aubl. (crabwood) comprises species
of small to large trees of economic importance distributed
throughout the tropical forests in Africa and America
(Hammond etal. 1996, Van Andel 2000). The oil extracted
from the seeds of Carapa species is commonly known as
karapa, and from this the generic name Carapa was
derived (Martinborough 2002, Forte etal. 2002). Carapa is
not found in Asia, being replaced by Xylocarpus (Forget and
Kenfack 2008). Nevertheless, the taxonomic distinction
among Xylocarpus species is unclear and nomenclatural
ambiguity exists between X. moluccensis and X. rumphii.
For instance, some authors have regarded X.mekongensis
Pierre, as a synonym for X. moluccensis (e.g. Duke 1992,
2006, Giesen etal. 2006) because the taxonomic descriptions provided by them under these two specific names
were the same. However, most Indian authors have treated
X. moluccensis and X. mekongensis as two distinct entities
(e.g. Banerjee and Rao 1990, Dagar etal. 1991, Deshmukh
1991, Singh and Garge 1993, Naskar and Mandal 1999;
Kathiresan 2000, 2002, Banerjee et al. 2002, Raju 2003,
Naskar 2004, Rajendran and Baskara Sanjeevi 2004),
but the taxonomic descriptions provided by them were
different and often confusing. The descriptions given by
these authors indicate that they have regarded X. moluccensis as a synonym of X. rumphii and X. mekongensis

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2P. Ragavan etal.: Xylocarpus species of Andaman and Nicobar Islands

This confusion in nomenclature often creates ambiguity in distinguishing the species of Xylocarpus and, as
a consequence, misidentification frequently occurs. For
instance, Pawar etal. (2013) recently assessed the genetic
diversity of X. granatum, X. mekongensis and X.moluccensis. The morphological attributes (i.e. conical pneumatophores and bark peelings in long thick narrow strips) and
photographs given by him for X. mekongensis resemble
X. moluccensis, but the characters (i.e. smooth bark with
flakes and ribbon-like pneumatophores) and photographs
given for X. moluccensis do not match with those for X.
rumphii and nearly resemble X. granatum, except for fruit
size. Earlier, Sreekumar and Kala (1998) also noted the
ambiguity between X. moluccensis and X. rumphii after
reviewing the herbarium material deposited by Mabberley
and Pannell (1989) and Mabberley etal. (1995). However,
they did not provide a detailed description of the morphology and distribution of Xylocarpus species of the ANI.
Hence, the present study was undertaken to resolve the
nomenclatural ambiguity of Xylocarpus spp. in the ANI
and to document their distribution.
A qualitative survey of the occurrence of Xylocarpus
spp. in the ANI over 51 selected sites from 2009 to 2013
revealed the presence of three species of Xylocarpus,
namely, X. granatum, X. moluccensis and X. rumphii. Of
these, the first two species were observed exclusively in
mangrove swamps, whereas the last one was observed
on the rocky shores of Havelock Island, Neil Island, Corbyns Cove, Chidiyatapu and Little Andaman. Xylocarpus
granatum was recorded from all 46 sites in the Andaman
Islands, whereas X. moluccensis was observed in 13 sites in
the Andaman Islands. None of the species was observed
on the Nicobar Islands in the present study. Earlier, Dagar
et al. (1991) reported the occurrence of X. granatum and

as a synonym of X. moluccensis. Tomlinson (1986) also

treated X. mekongensis and X. moluccensis as two different
entities, but his description, based on P
arkinson (1934),
suggests that he regarded X. moluccensis as a synonym
of X.rumphii. Furthermore, he noted that X. moluccensis
is a non-mangrove species, present on rocky shores and
sandy beaches.
The species of Xylocarpus were first reported from
the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ANI) by Parkinson
(1923) under the generic name Carapa. He recognized
three species, namely, Carapa obovata, C. moluccensis
and Carapa sp. Further, he noted that the unnamed
taxon resembled Carapa obovata in its leaves and
flowers, but differed by its characteristic bark with thick
peel and prominent pneumatophores as found in Sonneratia. In comparison, C. moluccensis was found on
the rocky coast of the Andaman Islands but was not
reported from mangrove swamps. Those notes clearly
indicate that the third species seen and described
by him as Carapa sp. was Xylocarpus moluccensis,
whereas his Carapa moluccensis was X. rumphii and
Carapa obovata was X. granatum. The unnamed taxon
described by P
arkinson (1923) was later named as Xylocarpus gangeticus by Parkinson (1934), but Hajra et al.
(1999) and Debnath (2004) regarded Xylocarpus gangeticus as a distinct entity. It is pertinent to mention here
that, in earlier references in India, X. moluccensis was
regarded as X. rumphii, a non-mangrove species, and
X. mekongensis and X. gangeticus were regarded as X.
moluccensis, a taxon with prominent pneumatophores
and bark with thick peelings. Moreover, X. moluccensis
is not an accepted synonym of X. rumphii; at the same
time, both X. mekongensis and X. gangeticus are unresolved synonyms of X. moluccensis.

Table 1:Diagnostic characters of Xylocarpus species of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Characters

X. granatum

Number of leaflets
Leaflet shape
Leaflet base
Leaflet apex
Bark texture and color

Root

12 pairs (rarely 3 pairs)

Broadly elliptic or oblong

Cuneate

Rounded

Smooth with thin papery

flakes, pale brown

Buttresses and planks, no

pneumatophores
35 mm

59 mm

4, greenish white

Dome shaped, orange in color

1525 cm

820

Mature flower bud length (closed)

Pedicel length

Petals

Ovary

Mature fruit diameter

Number of seeds

X. moluccensis

X. rumphii

13 pairs

Broadly elliptic

Cuneate

Broadly acute

Fissured and flaky in

strips, dark brown

Peg like pneumatophores

24 pairs
Cordate
Rounded
Acuminate
Deeply fissured, dark brown

24 mm

35 mm

4, white

Disc shaped, red colored

710 cm

816

35 mm
610 mm
4, White
Disc shaped, orange red color
710 cm
410

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No above ground roots

P. Ragavan etal.: Xylocarpus species of Andaman and Nicobar Islands3

Table 2:Distribution of Xylocarpus spp. in the Andaman Islands (+ indicates occurrence).

Latitude

Longitude

X. granatum

X. moluccensis

South Andaman

Chidiyatapu

Burmanallah

Beadonabad

Corbyns Cove

Sippighat

Manjeri

Guptapara

Manglutan

Wandoor

Ograbraj

Bambooflat Creek
Wright Myo Creek
Shoal Bay Creek
Jirkatang

Tirur

Baratang

Middle Strait

Wrafters Creek

Baludera

Middle Andaman

Kadamtala Creek
Yerrata Creek

Shyamkund Creek
Dhaninallah Creek
Rangat Bay

Panchawati

Mayabunder

Austin Creek

Mohanpur Creek
Karmatang Creek
Chainpur Creek

Rampur

Danapur

Tugapur Creek

Diglipur

Parangara Creek
Kishorinagar Creek
Kalighat Creek

Smith Island

Ariel Bay

Radhanagar

Lakshmipur

Durgapur

Ramnagar

Havelock

Govindnagar

Radhanagar

Neil Island

Little Andaman

V.K. Pur Creek

Dugong Creek

Jackson Creek

11 29 31.2
11 33 36.1
11 34 53.0
11 38 29.5
1136 50.1
11 32 43.4
11 33 22.8
11 34 32.13
11 35 13.0
11 39 16.3
11 42 44.1
11 49 56.5
11 47 58.4
11 49 43.06
1142 54.0

12 09 24.2
12 05 52.8
12 09 32.40

12 19 2.63
12 26 52.9
12 28 33.86
12 36 55.36
12 30 11.8
12 34 30.04

12 52 36.9
12 56 10.90
12 50 26.9
12 56 10.90
12 52 54.1
12 54 10.2
12 50 48.7

13 08 18.5
13 11 44.1
13 07 40.3
13 21 11.5
13 16 40.7
13 24 33.3
13 19 50.6
13 16 24.3
13 11 15.9

12 02 28.3
12 0 56 04
11 50 13.7

10 44 58.7
10 48 00.04
10 45 36.44

92 42 33.6
92 43 38.2
92 44 11.7
92 44 27.9
92 41 22.2
92 39 00.6
92 39 18.5
92 38 29.1
92 36 59.3
92 40 04.6
92 42 05.4
92 43 12.1
92 43 03.2
92 39 33.5
92 36 43.9

92 45 26.6
92 45 50.9
92 48 58.3

92 47 28
92 53 25.0
92 50 37.6
92 57 8.13
92 57 02.0
92 57 46.8

92 50 40.2
92 51 14.3
9256 01.8
92 47 22.8
92 54 30.7
92 54 09.2
92 51 07.1

92 52 42.8
92 51 49.5
92 56 44.9
93 00 43.5
93 01 00.9
92 54 18.7
92 56 45.1
93 02 07.9
93 02 05.2

92 58 46.1
92 57 9.16
93 15 15.1

92 34 35.6
92 33 35.0
92 23 56.6

+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+

+
+
+

+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+

+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+

+
+
+

+
+
+

+
+

+
+
+

+
+
+

+
+

Site name

None of these species was found in the Nicobar Islands.

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X. rumphii
+

+
+
+

4P. Ragavan etal.: Xylocarpus species of Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Figure 1:Distinguishing characters of Xylocarpus granatum, X. moluccensis and X. rumphii. AG. X. granatum: A, smooth bark with thin
flakes; B, buttress roots; C, leaf with two pairs of leaflets; D, inflorescence; E, flower with greenish petals; F, orange colored disc around
ovary; G, globose fruit. HN. X. moluccensis: H, rough bark with thick peelings; I, pneumatophores; J, leaf with three pairs of leaflets; K,
inflorescence; L, flower with white petals; M, red colored disc around ovary; N, sub-globose fruit. OT. X. rumphii: O, rough, deeply fissured
bark; P, leaf with three pairs of leaflets; Q, inflorescence; R, flower with white petals; S, orange red colored disc around ovary; T, sub-globose fruit.

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P. Ragavan etal.: Xylocarpus species of Andaman and Nicobar Islands5

X. moluccensis from Kimous Bay (Car Nicobar) but, in the

present study, neither of these species was observed there.
It has been reported that 6270% of the mangrove forests
of the Nicobar Islands were destroyed by the submergence of coastal lands by about 1m following the massive
earthquake that occurred on the 26th of December 2004
(Ramachandran etal. 2005, Sridhar etal. 2006, Nehru and
Balasubramanian 2011). It is suspected, therefore, that
permanent submergence might have led to the extinction
of Xylocarpus species from the Nicobar Islands, although
this needs to be validated by more extensive and thorough
surveys for Xylocarpus species in the Nicobar Islands.
It is difficult to distinguish Xylocarpus species based
on herbarium specimens without observing the plant
insitu. They can be easily recognized from each other in
the field based on the characters of the root, trunk, bark,
leaves, inflorescence and fruit. The key distinguishing
characters and the distribution of Xylocarpus species in
ANI are given in Tables1 and 2, respectively.
The bark and roots are quite distinctive in these taxa.
In X. granatum, the trunk surface is pale and smooth,
with its thin bark peeling in flakes or patches (Figure1A),
whereas in X. moluccensis, the trunk surface is rough, dark
brown and fissured, with the bark peeling in long thick
narrow strips (Figure 1H). In X. rumphii, the trunk surface is
rough, dark brown and deeply fissured without prominent
peeling (Figure 1O). Both X. granatum and X. moluccensis
possess buttress roots but above-ground roots are absent
in X. rumphii. The horizontal cable roots of X. moluccensis produce vertical, conical, laterally compressed pneumatophores, which may grow up to 30cm tall (Figure 1I),
whereas pneumatophores are absent in X. granatum but the
horizontal cable roots develop into ribbon-like plank roots
(Figure 1B). Leaves are paripinnate in all three Xylocarpus
species (Figure 1C, J, P). Occasionally, imparipinnate leaves

Figure 2:Variation in fruits of Xylocarpus granatum. A: Fruit with

prominent beak (a total of four individuals were observed with such
fruits from Dhaninallah Creek, Middle Andaman). B: Normal fruit
(observed on tree from the same site, adjacent to individuals with
beaked fruits).

are also observed in Xylocarpus species due to the reduction

of the terminal pair to one leaflet (Jugale etal. 2009).
Among the three Xylocarpus species, X. moluccensis is
deciduous but X. granatum and X. rumphii are evergreen.
Flowering is seasonal in X. moluccensis and X. rumphii; it
occurs from April to June in X. moluccensis and from June
to August in X. rumphii. Flowering in X. granatum is seasonal or throughout the year depending on the regional
conditions (Tomlinson 1986). In the present survey, it was
observed that X. granatum flowered throughout the year
in ANI, with a peak from April to July. Flowering throughout the year also has been recorded from the Odisha coast
(Banerjee etal. 1989). All three Xylocarpus species possess
axillary, irregularly branched, multi-flowered inflorescences, and the stamens are united into a staminal tube. It
is clear from the present study that the flowers of X. granatum and X. rumphii are larger, the pedicels are longer and
thicker and the gynoecium is larger than those of X.moluccensis. The pedicels in X. rumphii are longer than in the
other two species (Figure 1Q). The disc around the ovary
base is orange in X. granatum (Figure 1F) and orange red in
X. rumphii (Figure 1S), whereas it is deep red in X. moluccensis (Figure 1M). The fruits of X. moluccensis (Figure 1N)
and X. rumphii (Figure 1T) are sub-globose up to 10 cm
across, whereas in X. granatum the fruit is large, globose
up to 1525cm across (Figure 1G). Interestingly, individuals of X. granatum having fruits with a prominent beak
(Figure2A) were observed from Dhaninallah Creek, Middle
Andaman, indicating that ecological variants of X.granatum may exist. Jugale etal. (2009) also reported that leaflet
shape, fruit size and floral parts were variable in X. granatum. Fruits and seeds are buoyant in all three taxa.
In other parts of India, all three species are known
to occur on the coast of Odisha (Banerjee and Rao
1990), whereas two species (X. granatum and X. moluccensis) were reported from the Sundarbans, West
Bengal (Banerjee et al. 1989), the coasts of Tamil Nadu
(
Deshmukh 1991) and Andhra Pradesh (Raju 2003),
and only one species (X. granatum) from Maharashtra
(Bhosale 2002). Both X.granatum and X. moluccensis are
listed as endangered species in recent Red Lists (Tomizawa etal. 2012). In India, Xylocarpus species are thought
to be threatened (Kathiresan 2008) and, considering the
medicinal significance of different parts of X. granatum
and X. moluccensis (Kokpol et al. 1996, Bandaranayake
1998, and Wangensteen etal. 2013), immediate and effective conservation measures should be taken for their protection and propagation.
Acknowledgments: We are extremely grateful to the
Department of Environment and Forests, Andaman and

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6P. Ragavan etal.: Xylocarpus species of Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Nicobar Administration for providing necessary support
in conducting the survey.

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Bionotes
P. Ragavan
Department of Ocean Studies and
Marine Biology, Pondicherry University,
Brookshabad Campus, Post Bag No. 01,
PortBlair 744112, Andaman and Nicobar
Islands, India,
van.ragavan@gmail.com
P. Ragavan is a research scholar in the Department of Ocean Studies
and Marine Biology, Pondicherry University, Andaman and Nicobar
Islands. He is studying for his PhD degree in Marine Biology. His
area of interest is the taxonomy of mangroves and seagrasses. His
more recent research has concentrated on the natural hybrids of
Rhizophora in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Alok Saxena
Additional Director, Indira Gandhi National
Forest Academy, New Forest P.O. Dehradun
248006, Uttarakhand, India

Alok Saxena is the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, currently

working as Additional Director in the Indira Gandhi National Forest
Academy, Dehradun, India. He was awarded a PhD in Biochemistry from the Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow in 1983. He
contributed significantly to the biennial publication State of Forest
Reports (SFRs) in 1993, 1995, 1997, 2001 and 2003. He has many
research publications in a wide variety of fields, such as biochemistry, forest fire, climate change, mangroves, coral reefs, and assessment of natural resources.
R.S.C. Jayaraj
Director, Rain Forest Research Institute,
Jorhat, Assam-785010, India

R.S.C. Jayaraj is a Director of the Rain Forest Research Institute at

Jorhat, Assam. He has a Masters degree in Botany. He joined the
Indian Forest Service in 1987. He served as a silviculturist at the
Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore, India.
His expertise is on breeding Eucalyptus species.
K. Ravichandran
Conservator of Forest, Department of
Environment and Forests, Haddo, Port
Blair-744101, Andaman and Nicobar Islands,
India

K. Ravichandran is the Conservator of Forests in the Department

of Environment and Forests, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He
was awarded a PhD in forestry from the Forest Research Institute,
Dehradun, India. He joined the Indian Forest Service in 1996. His
areas of interest include tropical forest management, coastal and
marine ecosystems and conservation and management of critical
habitats, namely, mangroves, coral reefs and seagrass meadows.

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8P. Ragavan etal.: Xylocarpus species of Andaman and Nicobar Islands

P.M. Mohan
Professor, Department of Ocean Studies
and Marine Biology, Pondicherry University,
Brookshabad Campus, Post Bag No. 01, Port
Blair 744112, Andaman and Nicobar Islands,
India

P.M. Mohan is Professor of Marine Biology at Pondicherry University. He was awarded a PhD in Marine Sciences from Cochin
University of Science and Technology, Kerala, India. He was the
founder and head of the Department of Ocean Studies and Marine
Biology, Pondicherry University, Andaman and Nicobar Islands in
2002. His expertise is on the monitoring of critical habitats, namely,
mangroves, coral reefs and seagrass meadows.

Mani Saxena
Independent researcher

Mani Saxena worked in the Central Drug Research Institute,

Lucknow for her PhD. Thereafter, she worked in various organizations. In 2009, she joined the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Forest
and Plantation Development Corporation Limited in Andaman and
Nicobar Islands (India) as a scientific associate where she worked
on the impact of tsunami on mangroves and coral reefs, particularly on the livelihood of the local people living around coastal
areas. She has published a number of papers on coral reefs and
mangroves. Presently, she is working in Dehradun (India) as an
independent researcher.

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Botanica Marina

Graphical abstract

P. Ragavan, Alok Saxena,

R.S.C.Jayaraj, K. Ravichandran,
P.M.Mohan and Mani Saxena
Taxonomy and distribution of
little known species of the genus
Xylocarpus (Meliaceae) in the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India
DOI 10.1515/bot-2015-0002
Botanica Marina 2015; xx(x): xxxxxx

Short communication: The Andaman

and Nicobar Islands have three
species of the genus Xylocarpus
viz., X. granatum, X. moluccensis
and X. rumphii. They can be easily
recognized in the field based on
the characters of root, trunk, bark,
leaves, inflorescence and fruit.
Keywords: Andaman and Nicobar
Islands; mangroves; taxonomy;
Xylocarpus spp.

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2015 | Volume xx | Issue x