|
|
| |
Melicope indica
|
| |
|
| |
Family:
RUTACEAE
|
| |
Citation: Melicope indica Wight, Ic. t. 1051. 1845; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 492. 1875; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 149(106). 1915; K.N. Nair & M.P. Nayar in Hajra et al., Fl. India 4: 367. 1997.
|
| |
Malayalam Name(s):
|
| |
Tamil name(s):
|
| |
English name(s):
|
| |
Description:
Shrubs or small trees, up to 5 m high. Leaves alternate, 4-12 x 2-6 cm, unifoliolate, leaflets elliptic or narrowly obovate, cuneate at base, obtusely acuminate or rarely rounded at apex, entire along margins, coriaceous, glabrous; secondary nerves 9-15 pairs, slender, prominent, reticulate; petioles 2-7 cm long, slender, horizontally grooved above, cylindric otherwise, glabrous. Flowers 3 or 5 in axillary cymes or umbels, functionally unisexual; bracts and bracteoles ovate, obtusely acute at apex, ca 1 mm long, pellucid-punctate, pubescent abaxially, glabrous adaxially; pedicels 3-5 mm long, densely puberulent. Male flowers: sepals 4, free to base, imbricate, orbicular, ca 2 x 2.5 mm, ridged on abaxial side, pubescent abaxially along ridge, glabrous adaxially; petals 4, imbricate, ovate, acute, ca 5 x 3 mm, minutely hairy abaxially glabrous adaxially; disk obscure; stamens 8; filaments linear, 2.5-3.5 mm long, anthers oblong or subcordate, ca 1 mm long, yellowish; pistillodes with an abortive ovary and rudimentary styles at centre. Female flowers: sepals, petals and disk as in male flowers; staminodes 8, 2.5- 3.5 mm long; gynoecium 4-carpellate, 4-lobed, ca 1.5 mm long, ca 2 mm broad, pubescent, ovules 2 in each carpel, styles 4, coherent above, free below, ca 2 mm long, stigma capitate, 4-lobed, ca 1 mm broad. Fruits capsular, connate almost along entire length, ca 10 mm broad, exocarp subfleshy, glabrous, endocarp crustaceous; seeds one in each locule, remain attached in capsule by a funiculus, ca 5 mm long, black shiny.
|
| |
Habit:
Shrub
|
| |
Flowering & Fruiting:
Throughout the year
|
| |
District(s):
Palakkad
|
| |
Medicinal:
|
| |
Habitat:
Evergreen and shola forests
|
| |
Distribution:
Southern Western Ghats
|
| |
Aquatic:
No
|
| |
Epiphyte(s):
No
|
| |
Saprophyte:
No
|
| |
Stem parasite:
No
|
| |
Root parasite:
No
|
| |
Flower colour(s):
White
|
| |
Weed:
No
|
| |
Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
|
| |
Exotic:
No
|
| |
Garden:
No
|
| |
Edible:
No
|
| |
Vegetable:
No
|
| |
Endemic to:
Southern Western Ghats
|
| |
IUCN status:
Endangered (EN)
|
| |
Altitude:
|
| |
Localities:
|
|