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Commiphora berryi
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Family:
BURSERACEAE
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Citation: Commiphora berryi (Arn.) Engl. in A. & C. DC., Monogr. Phan. 4: 17. 1883; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 170(122). 1915; V. Chithra & A.N. Henry in Hajra et al., Fl. India 4: 443. 1997; Sasidh., Fl. Chinnar WLS 59. 1999; A.N. Henry & V. Chithra in P. Daniel, Fl. Kerala 1: 631. 2005.
Balsamodendron berryi Arn., Ann. Nat. Hist. 3: 86. 1839; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 529. 1875.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Usuva
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Indian Balm of Gilead
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Description:
Trees, to 10 m high, bark reddish-brown or grey; blaze pink-red; branchlets spine-tipped. Leaves 3-foliate, alternate, clustered; estipulate; rachis 6-14 mm, slender, grooved above, flattened at base, pubescent; leaflets opposite, sessile, laterals smaller, terminal larger; lamina 0.6-2 x 1.2-2 cm, ovate-obovate, obovate, ovate or suborbicular, base cuneate or attenuate, apex obtuse, margin crenate or entire, glabrous, chartaceous; lateral nerves 3-5 pairs, pinnate, slender, faint, intercostae reticulate, faint. Flowers small, polygamous, deep red, pink or cream coloured, solitary or fascicled, axillary; calyx narrowly campanulate; lobes 4, shorter than the tube, glabrous; petals 4, oblanceolate, apiculate; stamens 8, free, alternately long and short, inserted on the margin of the disc; filaments subulate; disc small, 6-8 lobed; ovary superior, ovoid, sessile, 2-celled, ovules 2 in each cell; style short; stigma 3-4 lobed; ovules 2 in each cell. Fruit a drupe, 0.8-1.2 x 0.6-0.9 cm, oblong or ovoid-subglobose, beaked; seeds 2.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
January-April
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District(s):
Idukki
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Medicinal:
Yes
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Habitat:
Dry deciduous forests
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Distribution:
South India
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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, Red
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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:
Thayanankkudy, Sivapura
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