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Mesua pulchella
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Family:
CLUSIACEAE/GUTTIFERAE
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Citation: Mesua pulchella Planch. & Triana, Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot. ser. 4, 15: 307. 1861; N.P. Singh in B.D. Sharma & Sanjappa, Fl. India 3: 143. 1993.
Mesua ferrea L. ssp. pulchella Vesque var. pulchella (Planch. & Triana) Mahesh., Bull. Bot. Surv. India 5: 339. 1963.
Mesua nagassarium (Burm.f.) Kosterm. var. pulchella (Planch. & Triana) Kosterm., Reinwardtia 7: 427. 1969.
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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:
Evergreen trees, to 20 high, bole buttressed, bark 8-10 mm thick, brown rough, irregularly flaking, fibrous, blaze light pink, exudation scanty, colourless; branchlets slender, terete. Leaves simple, opposite, decussate, estipulate; petiole 8-10 mm long, slender, slightly grooved above, glabrous; lamina 5-10 x 1-3.5 cm, elliptic or narrowly lanceolate, base acute, apex acuminate, margin entire, glabrous, shining, coriaceous; lateral nerves many, parallel, close, obscure, intercostae reticulate, obscure Flowers bisexual, 3-3.5 cm across, white, sessile, solitary or in pairs, axillary, fragrant; sepals 4, in pairs, outer pair 7-9 mm long, suborbicular, inner 10-11 mm long, orbicular; petals 4, cuneate-oblong; stamens numerous, yellow; filaments variable; anthers large; ovary superior, 2-celled, ovules 2 in each cell; styles as long as ovary; stigma small, peltate. Fruit a capsule, ovoid to globose, 2.5-3 x 3.4 cm with persistent accrescent sepals; seeds smooth.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
April & December
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District(s):
Thiruvananthapuram
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Evergreen forests
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Distribution:
South India and Sri Lanka
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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:
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IUCN status:
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Altitude:
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Localities:
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