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Melicope indica
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Family:
RUTACEAE
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Citation: Melicope indica Wight, Ic. t. 1051. 1845; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 492. 1875; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 149(106). 1915; K.N. Nair & M.P. Nayar in Hajra et al., Fl. India 4: 367. 1997.
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Malayalam Name(s):
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
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Description:
Shrubs or small trees, up to 5 m high. Leaves alternate, 4-12 x 2-6 cm, unifoliolate, leaflets elliptic or narrowly obovate, cuneate at base, obtusely acuminate or rarely rounded at apex, entire along margins, coriaceous, glabrous; secondary nerves 9-15 pairs, slender, prominent, reticulate; petioles 2-7 cm long, slender, horizontally grooved above, cylindric otherwise, glabrous. Flowers 3 or 5 in axillary cymes or umbels, functionally unisexual; bracts and bracteoles ovate, obtusely acute at apex, ca 1 mm long, pellucid-punctate, pubescent abaxially, glabrous adaxially; pedicels 3-5 mm long, densely puberulent. Male flowers: sepals 4, free to base, imbricate, orbicular, ca 2 x 2.5 mm, ridged on abaxial side, pubescent abaxially along ridge, glabrous adaxially; petals 4, imbricate, ovate, acute, ca 5 x 3 mm, minutely hairy abaxially glabrous adaxially; disk obscure; stamens 8; filaments linear, 2.5-3.5 mm long, anthers oblong or subcordate, ca 1 mm long, yellowish; pistillodes with an abortive ovary and rudimentary styles at centre. Female flowers: sepals, petals and disk as in male flowers; staminodes 8, 2.5- 3.5 mm long; gynoecium 4-carpellate, 4-lobed, ca 1.5 mm long, ca 2 mm broad, pubescent, ovules 2 in each carpel, styles 4, coherent above, free below, ca 2 mm long, stigma capitate, 4-lobed, ca 1 mm broad. Fruits capsular, connate almost along entire length, ca 10 mm broad, exocarp subfleshy, glabrous, endocarp crustaceous; seeds one in each locule, remain attached in capsule by a funiculus, ca 5 mm long, black shiny.
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Habit:
Shrub
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Flowering & Fruiting:
Throughout the year
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District(s):
Palakkad
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Evergreen and shola forests
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Distribution:
Southern Western Ghats
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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):
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:
Southern Western Ghats
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IUCN status:
Endangered (EN)
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Altitude:
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Localities:
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