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Sterculia balanghas
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Family:
STERCULIACEAE
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Citation: Sterculia balanghas L., Sp. Pl. 1007. 1753; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 358. 1874; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 106(76). 1915; Mohanan, Fl. Quilon Dist. 95. 1984; Antony, Syst. Stud. Fl. Kottayam Dist. 82. 1989; M. Mohanan & Henry, Fl. Thiruvanthapuram 87, Anil Kumar et al., Fl. Pathanamthitta 96. 2005; V. Chithra in P. Daniel, Fl. Kerala 1: 471. 2005; Sunil & Sivadasan, Fl. Alappuzha Dist. 139. 2009.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Narthondi, Pavizhathondi
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
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Description:
Deciduous trees, to 18 m high, bole buttressed; bark grey, smooth, exfoliating in thin round flakes; branchlets tomentose. Leaves simple, alternate; stipules free, lateral, cauducous; petiole 10-45 mm, pubescent, swollen at base, swollen tipped; lamina 8-17.5 x 5-11 cm, elliptic, obovate, oblong, elliptic-ovate or oblong-ovate, base subcordate or round, apex acuminate, margin entire, chartaceous, glabrescent above, stellate hairy to velvety beneath. Flowers unisexual or polygamous, yellow or greenish-purple, in terminal or axillary panicles, 15 cm long, rusty tomentose; pedicels long; calyx 2 mm long, campanulate, tube 4 mm long, stellate hairs outside, densely along margins, hispid inside, 5-fid, teeth narrow, in curved, connivent; male flowers: staminal column with a group of anthers at the tip; female flowers: carpels 5, free, superior; stigma recurved; as long as styles. Fruit of 4-5, woody follicles, horizontally spreading, to 8 cm long, orange-red, oblong, rusty tomentose; seeds oblong, black, shiny.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
June-August
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District(s):
Kottayam, Alappuzha, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Moist deciduous forests, also sacred groves in the plains
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Distribution:
Indo-Malesia
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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):
Pink, 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:
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Localities:
Adoor, Neyyar, Aroor, Kadakarapally
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