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Psychotria octosulcata
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Family:
RUBIACEAE
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Citation: Psychotria octosulcata Talbot, Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 11: 237. t.7. 1897; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 642(453). 1921; Deb & Gangop., J. Econ. Tax. Bot. Addl. ser. 7, 129. 1989; Subram., Fl. Thenmala Div. 179. 1995.
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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; branchlets glabrous, pale green. Leaves opposite, 55-15 x 2-5 cm, obovate, oblanceolate or elliptic, abruptly acuminate at apex, attenuate at base, thin membranous or submembranous, glabrous, pale; midrib slender, channelled above; lateral nerves 6-10 on either side, opposite or subopposite, arcuate, with domatia; nervules inconspicuous; petioles 0.5-2 cm long, slender, glabrous; stipules 4-5 x 2-3 mm, ovate, long or short acuminate or acute at apex, entire, glabrous above, densely woolly beneath at base. Inflorescence terminal or axillary corymbose cymes, sessile, rarely peduncled, 2.5-5 x 1.5-3 cm, elongating to 5 x 9 cm when fruiting; branches 4-6 in a whorl or trichotomous, flattened, glabrous branchlets short; peduncles 0-1.5 cm long, flattened, glabrous; bracteoles 1-2 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate at apex, puberulous beneath. Flowers sessile, 3.5-5 mm long, short tubular, white. Hypanthium ± 0.5 mm long, obovoid, sparsely puberulous; calyx 1-1.5 x 1.3-1.6 mm, cupular, membranous, puberulous above, 5-toothed, teeth short, triangular, puberulous above. Corolla tube 2.5-3 mm long, glabrous above, villous at throat within; lobes 5, ± 1.5 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, inflexed or not. Stamens 5; filaments 0.4-0.6 mm long, narrow, adnate just below throat; anthers 0.3-0.7 mm long, oblong. Ovary 0.5 mm long; style 1.5-2.5 mm long, narrow, wider above, glabrous; stigma 2-lobed, 0.2-0.6 mm long, ovate, thin at margin. Fruits sessile to subsessile, 8-10 x 5-7 mm. obovoid, flat at top with persistent calyx lobes, tapering at base, 8 ridged and furrowed; pyrenes 2, obovoid, truncate at apex, tapering at base, plano-convex, dorsally 3-4 ridged and furrowed, ventrally flat, thick walled, with raphides; seeds 5-6 x 3-4 mm, obovoid, truncate at apex, tapering at base, plano-convex, dorsally 3-4 ridged and furrowed, ventrally flat, albumen uniform.
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Habit:
Shrub
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Flowering & Fruiting:
Throughout the year
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District(s):
Kollam
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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:
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Altitude:
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Localities:
Thenmalai, Kulathupuzha
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