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Heritiera littoralis
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Family:
STERCULIACEAE
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Citation: Heritiera littoralis Dryand. in Ait., Hort. Kew. (ed. 1) 3: 546. 1789; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 363. 1874; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 104(74). 1915; Mohanan, Fl. Quilon Dist. 94. 1984; K.C. Malick in B.D. Sharma & Sanjappa, Fl. India 3: 429. 1993; V. Chithra in P. Daniel, Fl. Kerala 1: 458. 2005.
Heritiera minor auct. non Lam. 1797; Roxb., Fl. Ind. 3: 142. 1832, p.p.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Mukuram, Nakam
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Looking glass tree
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Description:
Trees, to 25 m high, bark vertically fissured; branchlets lepidote. Leaves simple, alternate; stipules free, lateral, cauducous; petiole 20-25 mm, stout; lamina 12.5-20 x 5-10 cm, elliptic, obovate, oblong, elliptic-oblong to ovate-elliptic, base rounded, subcordate or oblique, apex mucronate to obtusely acuminate, margin entire, glabrous above, adpressed hairy beneath; coriaceous. Flowers unisexual, greenish-pink, in axillary drooping, tomentose panicles; peduncle lepidote; pedicel 1 mm; articulate; calyx 5-6 mm, campanulate, 5-6 toothed, stellate pubescent; petals absent; in male flowers: androgynophore slender, bearing in a ring of 5-10 adnate anthers beneath the apex; in female flowers : carpels 4-5, subdistinct, superior, sessile, glabrous, alternating at the base with a pair of staminodes. Fruit of 1-3 samara, 3-8 x 2-5 cm, pale brown, with a broad keel on one side, smooth, shining; seed one.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
July-March
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District(s):
Kollam
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Coastal areas and 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):
Green, Pink
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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:
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