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Lasianthus jackianus
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Family:
RUBIACEAE
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Citation: Lasianthus jackianus Wight, Calcutta J. Nat. Hist. 6: 502. 1846; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 3: 180. 1880; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 646(456). 1921; Ramach. & V.J. Nair, Fl. Cannanore Dist. 224. 1988; Manilal, Fl. Silent Valley 135. 1988; Vajr., Fl. Palghat Dist. 235. 1990; Deb & Gangop., Journ. Econ. Tax. Bot. 15: 286. 1991; Sasidh. et al., Bot. Stud. Med. Pl. Kerala 25, 33; Sivar. & Mathew, Fl. Nilambur 333. 1997; Pradeep, Fl. Vellarimala 78. 2000; Ratheesh Narayanan, Fl. Stud. Wayanad Dist. 427. 2009.
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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:
Shrubs 1-3 m high; branchlets hirsute, quandrangular when young, become terete with age. Leaves simple, opposite, 11-19 x 2-5 cm, oblong, elliptic-oblong, or ovate-oblong, acuminate or caudate-acuminate at apex, unequally-rounded or subacute at base, thin coriaceous, hirsute, blackish green or pale brown when dry; midrib slender channelled above; lateral nerves 6-8 pairs, opposite or subopposite, subparallel, arcuate, channelled, inconspicuous above; nervules parallel, forked, branched, inconspicuous above; petiole subsessile or 0.8 mm long, stout, hirsute; stipules 4-6 x 2-4 cm, ovate, acute at apex, coriaceous, sparsely hirsute above, few colleters present at base beneath. Cymes axillary, sessile, 2-5 flowered; bracts foliaceous, 15-50 x 4-10 mm, ovate, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate at apex, rounded at base, thin coriaceous, hirsute; midrib slender; lateral nerves 2-4 pairs, slender; bracteoles 4-8 mm long, linear, subulate or linear-lanceolate, hirsute, persistent. Flowers 6-7 mm long, sessile. Hypanthium 1 mm long, obovoid, tomentose. Calyx tomentose, tube ± 0.5 x 0.5 mm; lobes 4, ovate-elliptic, acute. Corolla tube 3.5-4.5 mm long, glabrous above, puberulous beneath at throat; lobes 4, 2 mm long, ovate-elliptic, tomentose above, puberulous beneath. Stamens 4, subexserted; filaments 0.5 mm long thin, adnate at throat; anthers oblong. Ovary 0.5 mm long, obovoid, 4-loculed; style 3.4 mm long, flattened, wider above; stigma 4-lobed; lobes ± 0.5 mm long, linear-oblong, papillose. Fruits 5-6 x 4-5 mm, globose, 4-ridged and grooved, crowned with persistent calyx lobes; pericarp thin, puberulous; stalk ± 0.5 mm long, tomentose; pyrenes 4, unequal in size, wrinkled, dorsally convex, ventrally angled; raphides present; seeds 3 mm long, oblong, acute at both ends, dorsally horned, ventrally concave.
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Habit:
Shrub
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Flowering & Fruiting:
November-March
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District(s):
Kozhikkode, Malappuram, Palakkad, Kannur, Wayanad
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Evergreen forests
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Distribution:
Southern 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):
White
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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:
Southern Western Ghats
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IUCN status:
Vulnerable (VU)
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Altitude:
500-1400
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Localities:
Silent Valley R. F., Kummattanthode, Panoth, Teerthundamala, Vattapara-Siruvani forests, Karuvarakundu, Vellarimala
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