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Ficus exasperata
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Family:
MORACEAE
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Citation: Ficus exasperata Vahl, Enum. Pl. 2: 197. 1805; Manilal & Sivar., Fl. Calicut 275. 1982; Mohanan, Fl. Quilon Dist. 378. 1984; Ansari, Fl. Kasaragod Div. 355. 1985; Manilal, Fl. Silent Valley 259. 1988; Ramach. & V.J. Nair, Fl. Cannanore Dist. 432. 1988; Antony, Syst. Stud. Fl. Kottayam Dist. 372. 1989; Babu, Fl. Malappuram Dist. 751. 1990; Vajr., Fl. Palghat Dist. 447. 1990; M. Mohanan & Henry, Fl. Thiruvanthapuram 432. 1994; Subram., Fl. Thenmala Div. 352. 1995; Sasidh. et al., Bot. Stud. Med. Pl. Kerala 32. 1996; Sasidh. & Sivar., Fl. Pl. Thrissur For. 429. 1996; Sasidh., Fl. Shenduruny WLS 303. 1997; Sivar. & Mathew, Fl. Nilambur 665. 1997; Sasidh., Fl. Periyar Tiger Reserve 394. 1998; Sasidh., Fl. Parambikulam WLS 311. 2002; Mohanan & Sivad., Fl. Agasthyamala 632. 2002; Anil Kumar et al., Fl. Pathanamthitta 464. 2005; Sunil & Sivadasan, Fl. Alappuzha Dist. 662. 2009; Ratheesh Narayanan, Fl. Stud. Wayanad Dist. 772. 2009.
Ficus asperrima Roxb., Fl. Ind. 3: 554. 1832; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 5: 522. 1888; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 1366(955). 1928.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Parakam, Therakam
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Sandpaper tree
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Description:
Deciduous trees, to 18 m high; aerial roots none; bark 5-6 mm thick, greenish-white, smooth, punctiform lenticellate, fibrous; exudation watery; all parts coarsely and harshly scabrid with stout white hairs. Leaves simple, laxly alternate spiral to opposite or subdistichous, 5.5-19 x 3-9 cm, elliptic, ovate, oblong-lanceolate, or obovate, apex acute to shortly acuminate, basal acute, round or cuneate, margin denticulate or sinuate-crenate to serrate, scabrid on both surfaces, with out, coriaceous; 3-ribbed from base, glands at nerve axils, lateral nerves 3-6 pairs, pinnate, prominent, intercostae scalariform; stipules short, paired, lateral, cauducous; petiole 1-6.5 cm long, slender, not articulated. Leaves of saplings and coppice shoots often lobed. Flowers unisexual; inflorescence a syconia, axillary, solitary, harshly scabrid; peduncle to 1.5 cm with 2-3 small scattered, lateral bracts, sometimes more or less aggregated into a collar, body subglobose or ellipsoid with scattered small lateral bracts, apical bracts projecting 1-2 mm; internal bristles copious, white, shorter than flowers; flowers of 4 kinds; male flowers sessile, ostiolar, in 1-2 rings; tepals 3-6, oblong-spathulate, white hairy; stamen 1;filament 0.5 mm; anther oblong, parallel; female flowers sessile; tepals 4-7, linear-spathulate, white hairy; ovary superior, obovoid; style filiform, lateral, puberulous, stigma clavate; gall flowers sessile to pedicellate tepals 4-6, lanceolate, white hairy, ovary white, sessile, style terminal, puberulous, stigma dilated. Syconium 0.7-1.5 x 1-1.5 cm, yellow or purple when ripe; achene oblong, slightly keeled, reticulate.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
February-April
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District(s):
All Districts
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Moist deciduous forests, also in the plains
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Distribution:
East Africa, Arabia, 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):
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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:
500-700
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Localities:
Peechi, Kattalappara, Kurisumala, Vallakkadavu, Parambikulam, Nelluyampathy forests, Valiyaparathode, Moozhiar, Pampa valley, Kalliassey, Manjeswar, Nileswar, Chandanathode, Kannoth, Tolpetty, Pallivasal, Bhavani river bank, Mukkali forests, Marapalam-Po
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