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Thespesia populnea
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Family:
MALVACEAE
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Citation: Thespesia populnea (L.) Soland. ex Correa, Ann. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris 9:290.1807; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1:345.1874; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 101(72). 1915; Manilal & Sivar., Fl. Calicut 49. 1982; Mohanan, Fl. Quilon Dist. 91. 1984; Ansari, Fl. Kasaragod Div. 78. 1985; Ramach. & V.J. Nair, Fl. Cannanore Dist. 65. 1988; Antony, Syst. Stud. Fl. Kottayam Dist. 78. 1989; Babu, Fl. Malappuram Dist. 73. 1990; Vajr., Fl. Palghat Dist. 84. 1990; T.K. Paul in B.D. Sharma & Sanjappa, Fl. India 3: 352. 1993; M. Mohanan & Henry, Fl. Thiruvanthapuram 83. 1994; Sivar. & Pradeep, Malvac. Southern Peninsular India 37. 1996; Sasidh., Fl. Shenduruny WLS 40. 1997; Sivar. & Mathew, Fl. Nilambur 95. 1997; M. Mohanan & A.V.N. Rao in P. Daniel, Fl. Kerala 1: 431. 2005; Sunil & Sivadasan, Fl. Alappuzha Dist. 131. 2009; Ratheesh Narayanan, Fl. Stud. Wayanad Dist. 157. 2009.
Hibiscus populneus L., Sp. Pl. 694. 1753.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Cheelanthi, Pooparutthi, Poovarasu, Porasu
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Bhendi tree, Bendy tree, Indian tulip tree, Portia tree, Seaside Mahoe
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Description:
Trees, to 15 m high, bark dark brown; blaze yellowish-pink; branchlets densely covered with minute scales, glabrescent. Leaves simple, alternate, stipulate; stipules 4-10 mm long, free, lateral, linear to lanceolate, cauducous; petiole 5-10 cm, slender, swollen tipped, scaly; lamina 5-12.7 x 5.5-15 cm, orbicular or ovate, base cordate or truncate, apex acute or acuminate, margin entire or dentate, coriaceous, with peltate scales above, glabrescent or stellate-tomentose beneath; 5-7 nerved from the base, palmate, prominent, lateral nerves 4-5 pairs, pinnate, prominent, intercostae subscalariform, prominent, often a glandular pore in one or more of the intercostal spaces beneath. Flowers bisexual, yellow, showy, solitary or in cymes, axillary or terminal; pedicels 20-50 mm long, jointed near the base, glabrescent; involucellar bracts 3-5 or 0, 5-15 x 2-3 mm, oblong-lanceolate, acute, subcoriaceous, densely scaly, cauducous; calyx cupular, minutely 5 toothed or 5-parted, accrescent and flattened in fruit, scaly outside, densely serious inside; corolla light yellow with dark purple centre, fading to purplish-pink, broadly campanulate; petals 5, 5-7.5 x 4-6 cm, obliquely obovate, narrowed and fleshy at base, rounded at apex, densely scaly outside, glabrous inside, ciliate at base, twisted; staminal tube 15-25 mm long, 5-toothed at apex; filaments ascending; anthers reniform; ovary superior, globose to ovoid, 5-celled, ovules 2-3 in each cell; style ca. 3 cm long; stigma club shaped, 5-furrowed. Fruit a capsule, globose, indehiscent, depressed, scaly, ultimately glabrescent; seeds many, ovoid, channelled along the back, pubescent.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
March-June
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District(s):
All Districts
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Medicinal:
Yes
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Habitat:
Grown as fence-posts and avenue tree, also in mangrove forests
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Distribution:
Pantropical
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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):
Yellow
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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:
Kuthuparamba, Olavakkot, Taliparamba, Thenkara, Kayamkulam, Vazhikadavu
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