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Pterygota alata
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Family:
STERCULIACEAE
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Citation: Pterygota alata (Roxb.) R. Br. in Bennett & Br., Pl. Jav. Rar. 234. 1844; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 104(75). 1915; Mohanan, Fl. Quilon Dist. 95. 1984; Vajr., Fl. Palghat Dist. 91. 1990; K.C. Malick in B.D. Sharma & Sanjappa, Fl. India 3: 455. 1993; Sasidh. & Sivar., Fl. Pl. Thrissur For. 69. 1996; Sasidh., Fl. Shenduruny WLS 43. 1997; Sivar. & Mathew, Fl. Nilambur 102. 1997; Sasidh., Fl. Periyar Tiger Reserve 37. 1998; Sasidh., Fl. Parambikulam WLS 34. 2002; Anil Kumar et al., Fl. Pathanamthitta 96. 2005; V. Chithra in P. Daniel, Fl. Kerala 1: 469. 2005; Ratheesh Narayanan, Fl. Stud. Wayanad Dist. 165. 2009.
Sterculia alata Roxb., Pl. Corom. t. 287. 1820; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 360. 1874.
Sterculia heynei Bedd., Fl. Sylv. t. 230.1874.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Anathondi, Kavalam, Kudatthanni, Pothondi
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Buddha's coconut tree
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Description:
Deciduous trees, to 35 m high, bole straight, buttressed; bark, greyish with light and dark patches, smooth; young parts covered with dense golden brown stellate-pubescence. Leaves simple, alternate clustered towards the end of branches, 10-30 x 7.5-20 cm, ovate or orbicular, apex caudate-acuminate or acuminate, base cordate, subcordate or truncate, margin entire, glabrous, coriaceous5-7 nerved from base, palmate, lateral nerves 3-6 pairs, pinnate, prominent, intercostae reticulate, slender, prominent; petiole 3.5-10 cm long, slender, glabrous; stipule free, lateral, cauducous. Flowers unisexual or polygamous, to 2 cm long, brownish, in rusty brown tomentose panicles from leafless nodes. Calyx 5-partite, lobes 1 cm long, curved out, tomentose outside. Male flowers: staminal column cylindric bearing 4-5 phalanges of about 5 anthers each. Female flowers: staminodes round the base of the ovary; carpels 5, free, superior, ovules many in each; style short, recurved; stigma 2-lobed. Fruit of 3-5 follicles, 10-12.5 cm long, obovoid oblique; seeds 25-30, 5-7.5 cm long, oblong, brown winged.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
April-May
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District(s):
Palakkad, Kollam, Idukki, Pathanamthitta, Malappuram, Thrissur, Kozhikkode, Wayanad, Kannur
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Evergreen and semi-evergreen forests
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Distribution:
South Asia and Myanmar
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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):
Brown
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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:
Peechi, Kattalappara, Puthussery, Kothala, Mandhampatti-Mukkali, Nedumkayam
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