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Acacia planifrons
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Family:
FABACEAE/LEGUMINOSAE (Subfam.: Mimosoideae)
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Citation: Acacia planifrons Wight & Arn., Prodr. 276. 1834; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 2: 293. 1878p.p.; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 426(302). 1919; Sanjappa, Legumes Ind. 43. 1992; Chakrab. & Gangop., Journ. Econ. Tax. Bot. 20: 622. 1996; Sasidh., Fl. Chinnar WLS 119. 1999.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Kudavelam, Kodavelam
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Umbrella thorn
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Description:
Trees; to 7 m high; bark greyish-brown, thick with horizontal markings, branchlets warty. Leaves bipinnate, alternate, fascicled on abbreviated branchlets, stipulate; stipular spines in pairs, unequal; short ones recurved, brown, long one straight, divergent, white with brown spots; rachis 8-12 mm, slender, pulvinate, glabrous, with a gland towards the base on the upper side [absent in smaller leaves]; pinnae 3-5 pairs, slender, 0.7-1 cm, opposite, even pinnate; leaflets 10-30, opposite, estipellate; lamina 1-3 x 0.5-1 mm, linear-oblong, base oblique, apex obtuse, margin entire, glabrous, chartaceous, nerves obscure. Flowers white, heads axillary, 2-3 together, peduncles with involucel at the base; calyx campanulate, 1-2 x 1.5-2.5 mm, glabrous; corolla funnel shaped, 3-4 mm long, lobes ovate to oblong; stamens many, 3-4 mm long, filaments basally connate; ovary 1.5 mm long, sessile, glabrous; style ca. 2.5 mm long. Fruit a pod, 5-10 x 0.6-0.7 cm, slightly fleshy, circinate, entire along margin, acute at apex, glabrous, rounded to acute at base; stipe very short; seeds 6-9.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
October-April
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District(s):
Idukki
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Medicinal:
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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, Kuttar
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