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Sonneratia caseolaris
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Family:
SONNERATIACEAE
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Citation: Sonneratia caseolaris (L.) Engl. in Engl. & Prantl, Nachtr. 261. 1897; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 515(364). 1919; Mohanan, Fl. Quilon Dist. 190. 1984; Ansari, Fl. Kasaragod Div. 168. 1985; M. Mohanan & Henry, Fl. Thiruvanthapuram 203. 1994; Anupama & Sivad., Rheedea 14: 41. 2004; Sunil & Sivadasan, Fl. Alappuzha Dist. 309. 2009.
Rhizophora caseolaris L. in Stickman, Herb. Amboin. 13. 1754 p.p.
Sonneratia acida L.f., Suppl. Pl. 252. 1781; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 2: 573. 1879.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Apple kandal, Blatti, Chakkarakandal, Puzhamunja, Thirala
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Apple Mangrove, Crabapple mangrove
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Description:
Evergreen trees, to 8 m high; pneumatophores 1 m long and 6 cm diameter, straight, stout, corky, conical, brownish grey or orange-coloured, outer thin layer flaky; bark brown, cracked; branchlets pendulous; angled, greenish-brown, glabrous; nodes swollen with 2 lateral pair of circular glands. Leaves simple, opposite-decussate, estipulate; petiole 5-10 mm long, stout, red, glabrous; lamina 4-11 x 3.5-6.5 cm, broadly ovate or broadly elliptic, base cuneate, apex mucronate, emarginate or obtuse, glabrous, coriaceous, thick, slightly fleshy, green; lateral veins 10-15 pairs, parallel, looped near the margin forming intramarginal nerve, slender, obscure, intercostae reticulate, obscure. Flowers bisexual, pink, 6 x 5-7 cm, terminal, solitary; bracts rudimentary, in conspicuous; pedicel 5-10 mm long, quadrangular, glabrous; calyx green outside, white within, calyx cup 1.8 x 2 cm, smooth, glabrous, enclosing the basal portion of the pistil; lobes 6, 2 x 1 cm, oblong, elliptic, acute, greenish outside, purplish-white within, thick, coriaceous, glabrous, persistent; petals 6, 2 x 0.2 cm, free, purple to violet red, acuminate, apex wrinkled and coiled, membranous, glabrous, cauducous; stamens many, free, inflexed in bud, inserted in several rows on the terminal raised rim of the calyx cup, conspicuous, cauducous; filaments upto 4.2 cm long, reddish below, white above, thread like, anthers reniform, medifixed, bilobed; ovary 1 cm across, globose, white, many celled, ovules many in each cell; style coiled in bud, to 6 cm, white, terete; stigma capitate. Fruit a drupe, 7 cm across, globose, slightly flattened, calyx lobes horizontal, pericarp smooth, glabrous; seeds many, embedded in the fleshy pulp of the placenta, angular with rough surface.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
Throughout the year
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District(s):
Alappuzha, Kasaragode, Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Kozhikkode, Kannur
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Medicinal:
Yes
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Habitat:
Along backwaters and mangrove forests
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Distribution:
Indo-Malesia and Australia
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Aquatic:
Yes
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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):
Violet, Red
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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:
Kumbla, Payyanur, Kasaragod, Perumbalam
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