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Microtropis ramiflora
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Family:
CELASTRACEAE
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Citation: Microtropis ramiflora Wight, Ic. t. 977. 1845; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 613. 1875; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 207(149). 1918; Manilal, Fl. Silent Valley 56. 1988; Sasidh. et al., Bot. Stud. Med. Pl. Kerala 22,36. 1996; Swarup. et al., Shola For. Kerala 45. 1998; Sivar. & Mathew, Fl. Nilambur 144. 1997; Sasidh., Fl. Chinnar WLS 67. 1999; K. Ramam. in N.P. Singh et al., Fl. India 5: 131. 2000; Pradeep, Fl. Vellarimala 45. 2000; Mohanan & Sivad., Fl. Agasthyamala 161. 2002; K. Ramam. & P. Venu in P. Daniel, Fl. Kerala 1: 714. 2005.
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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:
Evergreen trees, to 25 m high; bark greenish-yellow, smooth with bluish-green blotches, blaze yellow turning yellowish-brown; branchlets black purple, rough. Leaves simple, opposite, decussate, estipulate; petiole 3-10 mm long, stout, glabrous; lamina 5-13 x 2.5-6.5 cm, elliptic, elliptic-ovate or obovate, base round or subcordate, apex rounded or slightly emarginate, margin revolute, cucullate, coriaceous, glabrous, slightly rugose above; lateral nerves 5-7 pairs, pinnate, prominent, intercostae reticulate, prominent. Flowers bisexual, yellowish, sessile, 6-10 in axillary condensed clusters; sepals 5, ovate to suborbicular, unequal, margin laciniate, imbricate; petals 5, fleshy, joined at the base with disc; disc annular; stamens 5, inserted on the disc; filaments subulate, basally connate; ovary conical, seated on the disc, 2-3-celled, ovules 2 in each cell; style short, stigma 2-3 lobed. Fruit a capsule, 2 x 0.8 cm, ellipsoid, woody, apiculate, grey to rusty, 2-valved, surrounded at the base by persistent calyx; seed one, 4 x 6 mm, oblong, stipitate, erect.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
March-June
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District(s):
Kozhikkode, Idukki, Malappuram, Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Shola forests
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Distribution:
Peninsular 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):
Yellow
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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:
1600-2600
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Localities:
Pothumala, Eravikulam, Sispara, Kunda hills, Vellarimala, Chemungi, Pongalapara, Agasthymala peak
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