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Garcinia rubro-echinata
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Family:
CLUSIACEAE/GUTTIFERAE
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Citation: Garcinia rubro-echinata Kosterm., Ceylon J. Biol. Sci. 12: 128. 1977; N.P. Singh in B.D. Sharma & Sanjappa, Fl. India 3: 123. 1993; Sasidh., Fl. Shenduruny WLS 31. 1997; W. Arisdason & P. Daniel in P. Daniel, Fl. Kerala 1: 341. 2005; Ratheesh Narayanan, Fl. Stud. Wayanad Dist. 136. 2009.
Garcinia echinocarpa sensu Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 264. 1874, non Thw. 1854; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 73(52). 1915; M. Mohanan & Henry, Fl. Thiruvanthapuram 71. 1994; Mohanan & Sivad., Fl. Agasthyamala 83. 2002.
Garcinia echinocarpa var. monticola Mahesh., Bull. Bot. Surv. India 6: 126. 1965.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Para, Pura
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
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Description:
Evergreen trees, to 20 m high; with cylindrical stilt roots; bark 5-6 mm thick, surface green, mottled with yellow, red and white, smooth, with numerous small lenticels; exudation yellowish-white, sticky; branchlets angular, apically quadrangular, glabrous. Leaves simple, opposite, decussate, estipulate; petiole 10-30 mm, stout, glabrous, ligulate projections at the base prominent, clasping the branch; lamina 8-15 x 3-7.5 cm, obovate, elliptic or oblong-ovate, base cuneate or acute, apex obtuse or subretuse, margin entire, revolute, glabrous, coriaceous; lateral nerves numerous, parallel, close, prominent, looped near the margin forming intramarginal nerve, intercostae obscure. Flowers polygamodioecious, reddish-green, sessile; male flowers: 2-12 in axillary or terminal clusters; sepals 4, red, orbicular, concave; petals 4, pale green, dark green towards tip, almost twice as long as sepals; stamens 12-40, monadelphous, staminal column short, very thick, anthers red; pistillode absent; female flowers: solitary, terminal, slightly larger than male; staminodes uniseriate, connate in to a ring at base; ovary superior, globose, covered with imbricate fleshy scales, 3-4 locular, ovules one in each cell; style short; stigma massive, white, circular, papillate. Fruit a berry, 3-6 x 2.5-4 cm, subglobose or ellipsoid, green to yellow green, covered with pyramidal spines or broad tubercles, crowned by short style and thick stigma; endocarp soft, pulp white, sweet; seeds 1-3 large, oblong, veined, light brown.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
February-July
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District(s):
Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Wayanad
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Evergreen forests
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Distribution:
Western Ghats
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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:
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:
Western Ghats
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IUCN status:
Vulnerable (VU)
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Altitude:
800-1200
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Localities:
Alvarakurichi, Bela, Ponmudi, Athirumala, Agasthyamala slopes
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