Fwd: Tamil name for Nothopegia castaneifolia (Roth) Ding Hou

[Dinesh Valke]

Many many thanks Vijayasankar ji for helping with giving names for this Nothopegia castaneifolia (Roth) Ding Hou, even though they are shared.

It is better to share the names of sibling species beddomei OR colebrookeana since they are morphologically similar in many aspects to castaneifolia.

Thus, I will use the following names:   சிகட்டை cikattai, கருந்தில்லை karunthillai,  பேச்சேறு மரம் pecceru maram

Regards.

Dinesh

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Vijay Raman <vijay.b...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Jan 12, 2026 at 6:41 AM
Subject: Re: Tamil name for Nothopegia castaneifolia (Roth) Ding Hou
To: Dinesh Valke <dinesh...@gmail.com>

You're welcome Dinesh ji.

I am okay and agree with you sharing the name Karunthillai for both species.

Also, there is not much difference between N. beddomei and N. castaneifolia except for some subtle differences in the leaf characteristics. So, I think it would be okay to use the same names for both species, such as பேச்சேறு மரம் pecceru maram; சிகட்டை cikattai. I'm not comfortable using the equivalent of the Malayalam name naayi chera.

On Sun, Jan 11, 2026 at 12:51 AM Dinesh Valke <dinesh...@gmail.com> wrote:

Many many thanks Vijayasankar ji.

I am tempted to share the name "கருந்தில்லை karunthillai" of Nothopegia colebrookeana - because in some Floras of southern states of India, Nothopegia colebrookeana and Nothopegia racemosa are synonymised. 

On second thoughts, the Kannada and Malayalam names (ನಾಯಿ ಚೇರ naayi chera and നായ്ച്ചേര് naaycheru) literal translate to (dog + Erinocarpus nimmonii), not sure what exactly it comes to mean. If a Tamil name is coined on the same lines - if it looks, sounds and makes similar sense, we can think of it as a good name.

Regards.

Dinesh

On Sun, Jan 11, 2026 at 7:49 AM Vijay Raman <vijay.b...@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Dinesh ji,

I haven't been able to find a suitable Tamil name for Nothopegia castaneifolia. The top-shaped fruit ("top-fruit") can be translated as பம்பரக்காய் (Bambarakkaai = top-shaped fruit), but this applies to other species in the genus as well. Translating "Chestnutleaf top-fruit" from FoI results in a long Tamil name கஷ்கொட்டையிலை பம்பரக்காய் மரம், which is not ideal in my opinion. So let's wait on this until we find a suitable, user-friendly name. 

Meanwhile, I found a Tamil name (in case needed) for Nothopegia colebrookeana in the literature: "Karunthillai" கருந்தில்லை. Ref.: Paulpriya et al.; Wisdom Library.

Also, during my PhD work, I documented the Tamil name "Koil kaasaan" கோயில் காசான் used by Malayali Tribes in the Tiruvannamalai district of Tamil Nadu for Nothopegia beddomei.

Best,

Vijayasankar

On Wed, Jan 7, 2026 at 3:40 AM Dinesh Valke <dinesh...@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Vijayasankar ji,

Please help with coining a name for Nothopegia castaneifolia (Roth) Ding Hou (syn.:  Nothopegia racemosa (Dalzell) Ramamoorthy), if feasible.

Nothopegia beddomei Gamble is known by following names: கருஞ்சக்கடை karuncakkatai, பேச்சேறு மரம் pecceru maram; சிகட்டை cikattai

Sources:

1. அருங்கலைச்சொல் அகரமுதலி ( ஆங்கிலம் - தமிழ் ) :: DICTIONARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS ( ENGLISH - TAMIL )
2. Tamil names of Botanical names by Yercaud Ilango

Perhaps a name based on any one of the above will greatly help.

Regards.

Dinesh

[J.M. Garg]

If you have Nothopegia castaneifolia images, pl. post as we do not have any confirmed images in efi site.

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With regards,
J.M.Garg, 
https://efloraofindia.com/