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Bombax insigne
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Family:
BOMBACACEAE
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Citation: Bombax insigne Wall., Pl. Asiat. Rar. 1: 71. 1830; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 349. 1784; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 100(71). 1915; Vajr., Fl. Palghat Dist. 87. 1990; M.P. Nayar & Biswas in B.D. Sharma & Sanjappa, Fl. India 3: 398. 1993; Subram., Fl. Thenmala Div. 38. 1995; Mohanan & Sivad., Fl. Agasthyamala 104. 2002; Sasidh. et al., Bot. Stud. Med. Pl. Kerala 9,16; Sasidh. & Sivar., Fl. Pl. Thrissur For. 64. 1996; Sasidh., Fl. Shenduruny WLS 40. 1997; Sasidh., Fl. Parambikulam WLS 31. 2002; S.K. Srivastava & K. Vivek. in P. Daniel, Fl. Kerala 1: 444. 2005; Ratheesh Narayanan, Fl. Stud. Wayanad Dist. 160. 2009.
Bombax scopulorum Dunn in Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 100(72). 1915; M.P. Nayar & Biswas in B.D. Sharma & Sanjappa, Fl. India 3: 399. 1993; Sasidh., Fl. Periyar Tiger Reserve 35. 1998; Anil Kumar et al., Fl. Pathanamthitta 93. 2005.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Poola, Kallilavu, Ilavu, Parei-ilavu
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Silk cotton tree
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Description:
Deciduous trees; to 25 m high; bole buttressed, straight armed with conical prickles; bark 20-25 mm, grey to greyish-brown, smooth, fibrous; blaze pink, striated with radial triangular rays; branches whorled, branchlets prickly. Leaves digitately compound, alternate, crowded at the tip of branchlets, stipulate; stipules small, lateral; rachis 15-30 cm long, stout, pubescent, swollen at base, grooved above; leaflets 6-8, whorled; petiolule 3-8 mm long, stout, pubescent; lamina 7-23 x 2-7 cm, obovate, obovate-oblong, or elliptic-obovate; base attenuate; apex acuminate or caudate-acuminate; margin entire, glabrous, chartaceous; lateral veins 15-22 pairs, pubescent, parallel almost perpendicular to the midrib, prominent, secondary laterals prominent; intercostae reticulate. Flowers bisexual, pale pink or creamy yellow, solitary, axillary; calyx irregularly lobed, 3-5 cm long, campanulate, densely silky within; petals 5, 8-12 x 2.5 cm, linear-oblong, narrowed at base, curved at apex, tomentose out side; stamens about 500 in 5 bundles; anthers dorsifixed, reniform; ovary ovoid, tomentose, superior, syncarpous; ovules numerous on axile placenta; style long ending in 5-fid stigma. Fruit a capsule, 5-angled, 8-10 x 4-4.5 cm, 5 valved, glabrous; seeds many, 4-5 mm across, subobovoid, brownish-black, embedded in dense creamy silky fibres.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
November-March
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District(s):
Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Thrissur, Idukki, Pathanamthitta, Wayanad
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Rocky areas in evergreen, semi-evergreen and moist 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):
Creamy
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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:
500-800
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Localities:
Peechi, Koruthode, Parambikulam, Choothuporathupara, Pathenthode, Thenmalai, Karamanayar region
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