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Avicennia officinalis
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Family:
AVICENNIACEAE
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Citation: Avicennia officinalis L., Sp. Pl. 110. 1753; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 4: 604. 1885; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 1105(774). 1924; Manilal & Sivar., Fl. Calicut 234. 1982; Mohanan, Fl. Quilon Dist. 311. 1984; Ansari, Fl. Kasaragod Div. 291. 1985; Antony, Syst. Stud. Fl. Kottayam Dist. 321. 1989; Ramach. & V.J. Nair, Fl. Cannanore Dist. 360. 1988; Babu, Fl. Malappuram Dist. 629. 1990; M. Mohanan & Henry, Fl. Thiruvanthapuram 363. 1994; Anupama & Sivad., Rheedea 14: 17. 2004; Sunil & Sivadasan, Fl. Alappuzha Dist. 570. 2009.
Avicennia tomentosa Jacq., Enum. Syst. Pl. 25. 1760.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Madaipattai, Orei, Oora, Uppatti
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
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Description:
Evergreen trees, to 8 m high; much branched with occasional stilt roots; pneumatophores numerous, straight, cylindrical, often forked with blunt tips; bark smooth, brownish-grey; branchlets terete, glabrous, pale brown, nodes swollen. Leaves simple, opposite, decussate, estipulate; petiole 10-18 mm long, stout, with a basal groove; lamina 3-10 x 2.5-5 cm, ovate, elliptic-obovate; base cuneate; apex obtuse; margin entire, glabrous above, silvery white tomentose beneath, coriaceous; lateral nerves 7-10 pairs, parallel, obscure; intercostae reticulate, obscure. Flowers bisexual, yellow, 1 x 1.5 cm, sessile, in terminal or axillary compound spikes, arranged in dense capitate units; peduncle upto 25 cm long, terete, silvery tomentose; bracts 3 x 3 mm, triangular, convex, green, black tipped with fringed margin, pubescent; bracteoles 2, similar to the bract, slightly smaller, bracts and bracteoles persistent; calyx brownish-green, sepals slightly united at base; lobes 5, to 5 x 4 mm, triangular, tip acute, pubescent, persistent; corolla yellow, glabrous within, densely pubescent side, thick, fleshy; tube to 4 mm long, lobes 4, to 6 x 5 mm, elliptic, unequal; stamens 4, filaments 3 mm long, flask shaped, slightly oblique, pubescent; ovary superior, imperfectly unilocular; ovules 4, pendulous, attached to the tip of central 4-winged axis; style 3 mm long, solid, gradually tapering; stigma unequally 2-lobed. Fruit a capsule 5 x 3.5 cm, mango-shaped, yellowish-green, flattened, apex acute with persistent stylar beak, pericarp thick, coriaceous, silvery tomentose; seed one.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
April-November
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District(s):
Kottayam, Alappuzha, Kasaragode, Kollam, Kannur, Kozhikkode, Thiruvananthapuram, Malappuram, Thrissur
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Medicinal:
Yes
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Habitat:
Along backwaters and mangrove forests
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Distribution:
Indo-Malesia to Pacific Oceans
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Aquatic:
Yes
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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:
No
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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:
Tellicherry, Payyavur, Aroor, Perumbalam
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