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Margaritaria indica
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Family:
EUPHORBIACEAE
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Citation: Margaritaria indica (Dalz.) Airy Shaw, Kew Bull. 20: 387. 1966; Sasidh. & Sivar., Fl. Pl. Thrissur For. 408. 1996; Sasidh., Fl. Periyar Tiger Reserve 376. 1998; Sasidh., Fl. Parambikulam WLS 295. 2002; N.P.Balakr. & Chakrab., Fam. Euphorbiaceae India 358. 2007; Ratheesh Narayanan, Fl. Stud. Wayanad Dist. 746. 2009.
Prosorus indicus Dalz. in Hook.'s J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 4: 346. 1852; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 1294(905). 1925.
Phyllanthus indicus (Dalz.) Muell.-Arg., Linnaea 32: 52. 1863; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 5: 305. 1887.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Mala-eachil
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
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Description:
Deciduous dioecious evergreen trees, to 25 m high; bark reddish-brown, thin, smooth, pealing off in thin scales. Leaves simple, alternate, distichous; stipules lateral, 2.5-4.5 mm long, lanceolate, brownish-scarious; petiole 5-10 mm long, slender grooved above, glabrous; lamina 4-12 x 2.5-6 cm, elliptic, elliptic-ovate, elliptic-obovate or obovate, base unequal or acute, apex obtusely acuminate, margin entire, glabrous above and glaucous beneath, membranous; lateral nerves 6-10 pairs, pinnate, slender, prominent, intercostae reticulate, slender, faint. Flowers unisexual, green, axillary; male flowers : fascicled, many together, axillary; pedicels ca. 4-6 mm long; tepals 4, biseriate, outer ones ovate, 1-1.5 × 0.6-1 mm, inner ones obovate, 1.3-1.8 × 1-1.5 mm; disc adnate, smooth; stamens 4, free; filaments 0.7-1.5 mm long; anthers elliptic or oblong; female flowers solitary or few together; pedicels subterete, 8-21 mm long; tepals 4, biseriate, ovate to oblong, ca. 1.5-2 mm long; disc entire, adnate; ovary superior, 3-celled, ovules 2 in each cell; styles 3, free or basally connate, spreading, shortly bifid. Fruit a capsule, 8 mm across, depressed globose, irregularly dehiscent, 3-lobed; pericarp thin, membranous; seeds subtrigonus; arillate.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
March-April
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District(s):
Palakkad, Idukki, Wayanad, Thrissur
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Semi-evergreen forests
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Distribution:
Indo-Malesia to Australia
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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
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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:
Peechi, Vazhachal, Thannikkudy, Kariamchola, Manthampotty, Pooyamkutty
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