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Cerbera odollam
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Family:
APOCYNACEAE
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Citation: Cerbera odollam Gaertn., Fruct. 2: 193. 1791; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 3. 638. 1882; Mohanan, Fl. Quilon Dist. 252. 1984; Ansari, Fl. Kasaragod Div. 227. 1985; Ramach. & V.J. Nair, Fl. Cannanore Dist. 276. 1988; Antony, Syst. Stud. Fl. Kottayam Dist. 240. 1989; Babu, Fl. Malappuram Dist. 413. 1990; M. Mohanan & Henry, Fl. Thiruvanthapuram 290. 1994; Sunil & Sivadasan, Fl. Alappuzha Dist. 422. 2009.
Cerbera manghas L., Sp. Pl. 208. 1753, p.p; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 806(566). 1923; Manilal & Sivar., Fl. Calicut 163. 1982.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Chattankai, Othallam, Odalam
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Chiute, Chatthankai, Dog-bane, Grey Milkwood, Sea Mango, Pong Pong Tree
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Description:
Small evergreen trees, to 6 m high; bark greenish-brown; blaze creamy yellow; branchlets stout with prominent leaf scars, latex milky. Leaves simple, alternate, crowned at the end of branches, estipulate; petiole 8-35 mm long, slender, glabrous; lamina 10-25 x 2.5-6.5 cm, lanceolate or oblanceolate; base cuneate or attenuate; apex acuminate or acute; margin entire, glabrous, fleshy, bright green and shiny, membranous on drying; lateral nerves many, close, slender, parallel, looped near the margin forming intramarginal nerve; intercostae reticulate. Flowers bisexual, 5 cm across, white, in pseudoterminal cymes; calyx lobes 5, linear, recurved, eglandular; corolla lobes 5, tube funnel-shaped above the throat with 5 villous scales; stamens 5, small, included, anthers lanceolate, apiculate; disc absent; carpels 2, free, ovules 4 in each cell on both sides of thick placenta. Fruit a drupe, globose or ellipsoid, pericarp green turning rose; seeds 1 or 2 compressed.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
July-November
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District(s):
Kottayam, Alappuzha, Kasaragode, Kollam, Kannur, Thiruvananthapuram, Malappuram, Kozhikkode, Thrissur
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Along the sides of water courses, ponds, in coastal areas and mangrove forests
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Distribution:
Indo-Malesia
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Aquatic:
Yes
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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:
Ezhimala, Cannanore, Kumbla, Manjeswar, Veli, Kasaragod, Kuthiyathodu
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