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Meliosma simplicifolia ssp. pungens
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Family:
SABIACEAE
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Citation: Meliosma simplicifolia (Roxb.) Walp. var. pungens (Wall. ex Wight & Arn.) Beus., Blumea 19: 466. 1971; Vajr., Fl. Palghat Dist. 134. 1990; Sasidh. et al., Bot. Stud. Med. Pl. Kerala 38. 1996; Swarup. et al., Shola For. Kerala 70. 1998; Sasidh., Fl. Chinnar WLS 79. 1999; S.C. Majumder in N.P. Singh et al., Fl. India 5: 427. 2000; N.P. Balakr. in P. Daniel, Fl. Kerala 1: 793. 2005; Ratheesh Narayanan, Fl. Stud. Wayanad Dist. 249. 2009.
Millingtonia pungens Wall. ex Wight & Arn., Edinb. New Phil. J. 15: 178. 1833.
Meliosma pungens (Wight & Arn.) Walp. Rep. 1: 423. 1842.
Meliosma wightii Planch. ex Brandis, For. Fl. 116. 1874; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 2: 4. 1876; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 256(182). 1918.
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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:
Trees, to 20 m high, bark greyish-brown, smooth; blaze deep pink changes to orange-red; branchlets densely tomentose. Leaves simple, alternate, estipulate; petiole 1.5-5 cm, stout, puberulent, grooved above; lamina 5-30 x 2-10 cm, elliptic-oblong, elliptic-obovate or oblanceolate or sometimes lanceolate; base acute to round, apex acute or acuminate, margin entire or with some distant teeth, usually distinctly pubescent on midrib, sometimes on nerves above, sparsely to moderately pubescent especially on midrib and nerves beneath, usually with domatia, coriaceous; lateral nerves 7-18 pairs, pinnate, ascending, prominent, intercostae reticulate, prominent. Flowers small, bisexual, pale yellow, crowded in dense glomerule, sessile, in lax or dense panicles of 5-55 cm; branches rather coarse, terete to slightly angular, densely short tomentose, the lower primary ones almost always subtended by small leaves; sepals actually 5, and 3 or more sepal like empty bracts, ovate, ciliolate; petals 3+ 2; inner ones ca. 1 mm bifid; lobes divergent, glabrous; outer ones orbicular, 2 mm; stamens 5; fertile stamens 3; filaments to 1 mm; staminodes to 1.5 mm; anthers globose; sterile ones bifid at apex; disc annular; ovary superior, glabrous, to 1 mm, 2-celled, ovules 2 per cell; style 1 mm. Fruit a drupe, 5-6 mm across, globose, purple-black, crustaceous, endocarp globose or subglobose, often rather irregular, with usually lax reticulum; median keel distinct but not very prominent.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
September-March
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District(s):
Idukki, Palakkad, Wayanad
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Shola forests
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Distribution:
Indo-Malesia and China
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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, 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:
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IUCN status:
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Altitude:
1500-2100
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Localities:
Ollavayal, Kakki hills, Lock-hert gap, Padagiri
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