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Acacia catechu
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Family:
FABACEAE/LEGUMINOSAE (Subfam.: Mimosoideae)
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Citation: Acacia catechu (L.f.) Willd., Sp. Pl. 4: 1079. 1806; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 2: 295. 1878; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 427(303). 1919; Sanjappa, Legumes Ind. 38. 1992; Sasidh., Fl. Chinnar WLS 117. 1999; Chakrab. & Gangop., Journ. Econ. Tax. Bot. 20: 606. 1996; Sasidh., Fl. Parambikulam WLS 110. 2002; Ratheesh Narayanan, Fl. Stud. Wayanad Dist. 332. 2009.
Mimosa catechu L. f., Suppl. Pl. 439. 1781.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Karingali, Kadiram, Cutch tree
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Black catechu, Cutch tree, White kutch
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Description:
Deciduous, gregarious trees, to 15 m high; bark dark greyish-brown to dark brown, rough, about 1.3 cm thick, exfoliating in long, narrow rectangular strips; blaze brownish-red; branchlets brown, glabrous. Leaves bipinnate, alternate, stipulate; stipular spines slightly infra axillary, paired, 3-10 mm long, straight or hooked, occasionally lacking on flowering branchlets; rachis 8-19.5 cm, slender, pulvinate, downy, grooved above, with a gland near the base of the rachis on the upper side; pinnae 10-20 pairs, 3.6-8 cm long, opposite, downy, slender, with a gland in between the terminal 6 pairs on the lower side, leaflets 30-50, opposite, paripinnate, sessile, stipels absent; lamina 2.5-8 x 0.5-1.5 mm, linear-oblong, base unequally truncate, apex round, obtuse, or mucronate, margin entire, pubescent, chartaceous; midrib subcentral at base, lateral nerves obscure. Flowers pale yellow, sessile, in long solitary or in groups of 2-4 axillary spikes; bracts cauducous; calyx cupular-campanulate, 1-1.5 x 1.3-1.5 mm, teeth triangular or deltoid; corolla 2.5-3 mm long, lobes oblong, ovate to linear-lanceolate; stamens many, 4.5-5 mm long; ovary stipitate, 0.8-1.2 mm long, oblong-ellipsoid; style 4-5 mm long; stigma terminal. Fruit a pod 5-10 x 1-1.6 cm, flat, straight, unlobed or sinuate along margins, thin walled, beaked at apex, brown, narrowed at base into a stipe, dehiscent; seeds 3-10, orbicular or ovate, flattened.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
March-September
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District(s):
Wayanad, Palakkad, Idukki
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Medicinal:
Yes
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Habitat:
Dry deciduous forests
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Distribution:
India and Myanmar
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Aquatic:
No
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Epiphyte(s):
No
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Saprophyte:
No
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Stem parasite:
No
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Root parasite:
No
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Flower colour(s):
Yellow
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Weed:
No
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Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
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Exotic:
Yes
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Garden:
No
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Edible:
No
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Vegetable:
No
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Endemic to:
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IUCN status:
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Altitude:
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Localities:
Kombakkayam, Thekkady, Walayar
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