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Semecarpus auriculata
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Family:
ANACARDIACEAE
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Citation: Semecarpus auriculata Bedd., Ic. t. 187. 1868-1874; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 2: 32. 1876; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 267(190). 1918; Mohanan, Fl. Quilon Dist. 130. 1984; Sasidh., Fl. Shenduruny WLS 81. 1997; Sasidh., Fl. Periyar Tiger Reserve 84. 1998; D. Chandra & S.K. Mukh. in N.P. Singh et al., Fl. India 5: 502. 2000; Mohanan & Sivad., Fl. Agasthyamala 185. 2002; V. Chandra. in P. Daniel, Fl. Kerala 1: 816. 2005; Ratheesh Narayanan, Fl. Stud. Wayanad Dist. 256. 2009.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Vellacheru, Charei, Charu
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
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Description:
Trees, to 25 m high, bark 5-6 mm thick, greyish-brown, smooth; blaze red; exudation watery, turns black on drying. Leaves simple, alternate, clustered at apex, estipulate; petiole 2-7 mm, stout, glabrous; lamina 10-28 x 1.7-6.7 cm, oblanceolate, base auriculate, apex acuminate, margin entire, glabrous, coriaceous; lateral nerves 13-17 pairs, parallel, ascending, prominent, intercostae reticulate, prominent. Flowers small, polygamous; male flowers yellow and female flowers green, inconspicuous, in axillary glabrous panicles; calyx cupular; lobes 4-5, deciduous; petals 5, sometimes 4 in male flowers, 5 in bisexual flowers, ovate, glabrous; disc annular, broad; stamens 5, inserted outside the disc; filaments filiform, glabrous, in bisexual flowers shorter than petals, in male flowers, as long as or longer than petals; anthers oblong; ovary superior, glabrous, 1-celled, ovule pendulous from a basal funicle; styles 3, divergent. Fruit a drupe, 18 x 12 mm, fleshy, obliquely ovoid, seated on a fleshy cup like receptacle, black, pericarp thick, loaded with acrid resin; seed pendulous.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
November-March
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District(s):
Kollam, Idukki, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikkode, Wayanad
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Evergreen 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):
Yellow, 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:
Southern Western Ghats
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IUCN status:
Near Threatened (NT)
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Altitude:
600-1000
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Localities:
Kallar, Moolakkayam, Rosemala, Puthussery, Koruthode, Moozhiar, Appuppanthode, Karamanayar region, Athirumala, Meenmutty, Bonaccord
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