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Morinda citrifolia
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Family:
RUBIACEAE
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Citation: Morinda citrifolia L., Sp. Pl. 176. 1753; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 3: 155. 1880; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 651(459). 1921; Manilal & Sivar., Fl. Calicut 144. 1982; Ansari, Fl. Kasaragod Div. 197. 1985; Ramach. & V.J. Nair, Fl. Cannanore Dist. 225. 1988; Antony, Syst. Stud. Fl. Kottayam Dist. 197. 1989; Babu, Fl. Malappuram Dist. 340. 1990; M. Mohanan & Henry, Fl. Thiruvanthapuram 236. 1994; Sunil & Sivadasan, Fl. Alappuzha Dist. 358. 2009.
Morinda bracteata Roxb., Fl. Ind. 1: 544. 1832.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Cherumanjanathi, Kattapitalavam, Manjanathi
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Great Morinda, Indian Mulberry
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Description:
Evergreen shrubs or small crooked trees, 3-8 m high; bark greyish or yellowish- brown, shallowly fissured, glabrous; branchlets quandrangular. Leaves simple, opposite, 12-50 x 5-17 cm, elliptic-lanceolate, entire, acute to shortly acuminate to apex, cuneate at base, pinnately nerved, glabrous; petioles 0.5-2.5 cm long; stipules variable in size and shape, broadly triangular. Flowers bisexual, fragrant, in dense globose heads, connate by the calyces, peduncle 1-4 cm long, opposite to normally developed leaves. Calyx tube hemispheric, limb truncate. Corolla funnel-shaped, up to 1.5 cm long, lobes 5 lanceolate, acute. Stamens 5, inserted on the mouth of the corolla; filaments hairy. Ovary 2-celled, ovule solitary; stigma bilobed. Fruit an ovoid syncarp of pyramidal, 2-seeded drupes, 3-10 cm x 2-3 cm, yellow-white; seeds black, with hard albumen and distinct air chamber.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
July-November
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District(s):
Kottayam, Alappuzha, Kasaragode, Kannur, Thiruvananthapuram, Malappuram, Kozhikkode, Ernakulam, Thrissur
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Medicinal:
Yes
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Habitat:
Waste places and mangrove 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):
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:
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IUCN status:
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Altitude:
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Localities:
Ezhimala, Tellicherry, Kumbla, Manjeswar, Kovalam, Kazhakkuttam, Vizhinjam, Kasaragod, Thrikkunnapuzha
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