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Phoebe palghatensis
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Family:
LAURACEAE
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Citation: Phoebe palghatensis M.Gangop., Bangladesh J. Pl. Taxon 16: 146 . 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:
Trees, (2-) 5-15 m high; branchlets terete, whitish-yellow to pale yellow, 5-6 in mm diameter, rough with profuse leaf-scars, elevated and ellipsoid lenticels and warts, glabrous in age; leaf bearing branches slender, dark blackish-brown or brown, scattered leaf scarred and lenticelate, up to 2.5 mm thick; very young one compressed, angled, shallow canaliculate, appressed tomentellous or villosulus. Leaves scattered, crowded towards apices, 7-20 x 2.5-5 cm, elliptic, obovate, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, sometimes ovate-lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, unequally attenuate or acute at base, decurrent to extreme base, slightly incurved along margin, long acuminate (acumens 17-25 mm long, sharp and sometimes beaked) at apex, thinly chartaceous to thinly coriaceous, young one reddish-brown, blackish-green to dark-brown above when mature, paler and sometimes subglaucous beneath, sparsely appressed fine puberulous or tomentellous along mid-vein above; mid-vein flat or slightly raised and canaliculate above, raised beneath; lateral veins 10-12 pairs, slender, raised on both surfaces, arcuate and weakly looped along margins; tertiary nerves faint above, slender but prominent beneath, scalariform; petioles slender, 10-17 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, flat and shallow channeled above, sparsely puberulous when young, glabrous in age. Inflorescence axillary and sub-terminal solitary panicle, slender, 3-6 cm long, sparsely puberulous or tometellous; peduncles slender, shallow channeled, 20-50 mm long, c. 1 mm wide; bracteole deciduous; branches short, thin, flattened. Flowers lax, cupular, 8-9.5 x 2-2.5 mm; pedicels 4-5 mm long, c. 1 mm wide, shallow longitudinally channeled, angled; tepals 3 + 3, ovate or ovate-orbicular, subacute, thin, anastomosis prominent, margin ciliate; outer: 2.5-3 x c 2 mm, concave and sparsely puberulous within; inner: c 3 x 2 mm, sparsely puberulous within. Stamens 9, 3 in each whorl, anther 4-locular, whorl 1st and 2nd introrse, of 3rd extrorse, filaments thin, flat, glabrous or very sparsely villous at base; 1st whorl: 2-2.5 mm long; filaments 1.2-1.5 mm long, anther ovate or ovate-oblong, truncate or retuse at apex; 2nd whorl: 1.8-2.1 mm long; filament 1.2-1.5 mm long; anthers ovate or ovate-oblong, truncate or retuse at apex; 3rd whorl: 2-2.2 mm long, glands 2, c 1 mm long, stipe c 0.5 mm long, thin, flat, head ovate-orbicular, cordate at base; filaments c 1-1.5 mm long, wider below; anthers narrow-oblong, truncate at apex; 4th whorl (of 3 staminodes); minute, c 1.5 mm long; stalk c 1 mm long, flat, ventrally shallow channeled, head sagittate, acute, ventrally shallow concave. Pistil 2.1-2.7 mm long, glabrous; ovary obovoid, 1.3-1.5 x 1 mm, smooth; styles 1.3-1.5 mm long, slender, flat, shallow channeled; stigma discoid, thin, lobulate. Infructescences: 3-8 cm long, slender, sparsely puberulus or glabrous, profuse lenticelate; peduncles 25-65 mm long, c 1 mm wide, blackish, lenticelate. Fruits ovoid, brown to blackish, 12-8 x 9-10 mm, obtuse apex with a mucro at centre, pericarp smooth, glabrous; stalks (2.5-) 5-7 x 1-2 mm, glabrous or sparsely puberulous; clasping tepals to 4 x 7 mm, blackish, smooth, thick, glabrous or sparsely sericeous.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
Throughout the year
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District(s):
Idukki, Palakkad
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Grows on hilly 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):
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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:
Kerala
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IUCN status:
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Altitude:
700-1500
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Localities:
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