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Strychnos potatorum
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Family:
LOGANIACEAE
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Citation: Strychnos potatorum L.f., Suppl. Pl. 148. 1781; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 4: 90. 1883; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 868(610). 1923; Vajr., Fl. Palghat Dist. 296. 1990; Sasidh., Fl. Chinnar WLS 201. 1999; Sasidh., Fl. Parambikulam WLS 199. 2002.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Chillam, Kadakam, Thettamaram, Thettamparel
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Clearing nut tree
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Description:
Trees, to 12 m high, bark 10-12 mm thick, brownish-black, rough, corky with deep and narrow vertical cracks; blaze creamy yellow. Leaves simple, opposite, estipulate; petiole 2-8 mm, glabrous; lamina 5-15 x 3.5-7.5 cm, elliptic, ovate, elliptic-ovate, base obtuse or round, apex acute, margin entire, glabrous, shiny, chartaceous; nerves 3-5 from the base, lateral nerves from the midrib 4 pairs, glabrous; intercostae reticulate, prominent. Flowers bisexual, white, 0.85 cm long, in short axillary cymes, 6-8 mm long; pedicel 2 mm; calyx lobes 5, small; corolla 3.5 mm across, salver shaped, hairy within, tube cylindric, lobes 5, longer than tube; stamens 5, inserted on the corolla tube; anthers 2-celled, introrse; ovary 1 mm, superior, glabrous, ovules one in each cell; style glabrous; stigma obscurely 2 lobed. Fruit a berry, 16-18 mm across, globose, black, pericarp hard; seeds 1-2, 10-12 mm across, turgid, round, compressed, yellowish.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
March-May
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District(s):
Palakkad, Idukki, Kozhikkode
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Medicinal:
Yes
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Habitat:
Dry deciduous forests
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Distribution:
Peninsular 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:
Chinnar, Kuchimudi, Walayar
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