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Petiveria alliacea
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Family:
PHYTOLACCACEAE
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Citation: Petiveria alliacea L., Sp. Pl. 342. 1753; Ghosh & Sikdar, Journ. Econ. Tax. Bot. 4: 155. 1983; Druvan et al., Rheedea 7: 37. 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:
Branched, foetid, undershrubs, 0.5-1.5 m tall; young branches greenish-purple, puberulous; internodes 2-4 cm long. Leaves alternate, 5-14 x 2-6 cm, elliptic-obovate, nearly glabrous, attenuate, acute or obtuse at base, acute to acuminate, mucronate at apex, margin undulate or sub-entire, lateral nerves 12-14 pairs, prominent beneath; petiole slender, 0.5-1.5 x 0.2-0.3 cm, pale purple, pubescent; stipules subulate, greenish, spreading, 2-3 mm long, minutely pubescent. Flowers 20-30 in lax spiral or terminal or leaf opposed, spiciform, erect 10-35 cm long, purple-green, puberulous; racemes with drooping tips; bracts to 2 mm long, ovate-acuminate, puberulous, persistent; bracteoles oblong-acute, slightly curved, puberulous, persistent; each flower to 0.6 cm across; pedicels to 0.5 mm long, pale-purple, pubescent. Perianth lobes 4, persistent, petaloid, oblong-obtuse, 3.5 x 1 mm, pale rose or cream turning green and scarious with age, imbricate, connate at base. Stamens 4-8, 2-3 mm long, alternately short and long, inserted on hypogynous disc; filaments 1.7-2.8 mm long, pale purple; anthers oblong, 1 mm long. Ovary globose, 1 mm long, greenish, white-wooly; stigmas filamentous, sessile, white, eccentric on the ventral side of ovary. Fruits elongate-obconic, to 7 mm long, dark-brown, covered at base by 4- persistent perianth segments, tip with 4 curved spines, 2 mm long; seed solitary, erect, linear, adnate to pericarp.
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Habit:
Shrub
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Flowering & Fruiting:
June-March
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District(s):
Thiruvananthapuram
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Waste places
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Distribution:
Native of Central America
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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:
Yes
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Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
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Exotic:
Yes
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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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