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Cinnamomum alexei
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Family:
LAURACEAE
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Citation: Cinnamomum alexei Kosterm., Reinwardtia 7: 454. 1969; Santhosh Kumar et al., Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. 18: 199. 2011.
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Malayalam Name(s):
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
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Description:
Small trees, 3-5 m high; bark slimy inside, strong smell of betel leaves; terminal bud small with 2 scales, externally densely sericeous; branchlets slender, apically subquadrangular, basally subterete. Leaves opposite or sub-opposite, 4-12 × 1.5-5.0 cm, ovate to lanceolate, rounded to cuneate at base, long acuminate to caudate at apex, dark green above, glaucous beneath, entire or undulate at margin, chartaceous, smooth, strong smell of betel leaves; midrib and 2 sub-basal lateral nerves reach below the acumen or rarely almost at blade tip by anastomosing the secondary lateral nerves; secondary nerves closely reticulate, ± prominent; petioles slender, 0.7-1.5 cm long, concave above. Panicles axillary or extra-axillary, 2.5-4.5 cm long, 5-12 flowered, glabrous, with 3-5 branches; central peduncle slender, 2.0-2.5 cm, pink; pedicels 4.5 mm long, slender, gradually thickened at apex. Flowers c. 2.5-3.0 mm, dark maroon, glabrous; perianth of 6 tepals in 2 whorls of 3 each, broadly ovate, to 1.5 mm long, acute to obtuse at apex, minutely sericeous at base, dark reddish tomentose within; stamens 9, in 3 whorls of 3 each; whorls I & II with anthers elliptic to ovate, 1.0-1.5 mm long, 2-celled, more or less fleshy, introrse, longer than filaments; filaments sericeous at the very base within; whorls III extrorse; anthers oblong, 2-celled, glands sub-sessile, attached near the basal portion of the filaments; staminodes shorter than anthers, hastate, on 0.5 mm long stipes with 1 or 2 hairs on either sides. Ovary ellipsoid, 1.0-1.5 mm long, glabrous; style as long as the ovary, rather thick with small peltate stigma. Fruit ellipsoid, 15 × 11 mm, cupule cup-shaped, cup shallow, 1.5-2.0 × 9 mm, base conical, tepals persistent on fruit and then acute to subacute, indurate.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
December-March
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District(s):
Thiruvananthapuram
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
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Distribution:
India, Indonesia, New Guinea and the Philippines
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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):
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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:
700-1000
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Localities:
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