|
|
Vernonia arborea
|
|
|
|
Family:
ASTERACEAE/COMPOSITAE
|
|
Citation: Vernonia arborea Buch.-Ham., Trans. Linn. Soc. London 14: 218. 1824; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 3: 239. 1881; Mohanan, Fl. Quilon Dist. 235. 1984; Ramach. & V.J. Nair, Fl. Cannanore Dist. 256. 1988; Manilal, Fl. Silent Valley 160. 1988; Vajr., Fl. Palghat Dist. 257. 1990; Uniyal in Hajra et al., Fl. India 13: 359. 1995; Sasidh. & Sivar., Fl. Pl. Thrissur For. 255. 1996; Sivar. & Mathew, Fl. Nilambur 381. 1997; Sasidh., Fl. Periyar Tiger Reserve 211. 1998; Sasidh., Fl. Parambikulam WLS 173. 2002; Mohanan & Sivad., Fl. Agasthyamala 391. 2002; Anil Kumar et al., Fl. Pathanamthitta 290. 2005; Ratheesh Narayanan, Fl. Stud. Wayanad Dist. 484. 2009.
Monosis wightiana DC. in Wight, Contrib. 1. 1834 & Ic. t. 1085. 1846.
Vernonia monosis Benth. ex Clarke, Comp. Ind. 24. 1876p.p., non Sch.-Bip. 1847; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 672(473). 1921; Swarup. et al., Shola For. Kerala 41. 1998.
Vernonia arborea Buch.-Ham. var. wightiana (DC.) Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 3: 239. 1881.
|
|
Malayalam Name(s):
Eerakatthira, Karana, Kadavari, Malanperuva
|
|
Tamil name(s):
|
|
English name(s):
|
|
Description:
Trees; to 12 m high; bark 5-6 mm thick, grey, mottled with white and green, rough, marked with vertical cracks, exfoliations small, squarish; branchlets densely brown silky tomentose. Leaves simple, alternate, 10-29 x 4-10 cm, obovate, elliptic-obovate or elliptic-oblanceolate, apex acuminate, base acute, obtuse, cuneate or attenuate, margin entire or distantly serrate, chartaceous, glabrous above and densely brown tomentose beneath; petiole 7-21 mm long, stout, densely pubescent, grooved above; lateral nerves 8-13 pairs, parallel, prominent, raised beneath; intercostae subscalariform. Flowers bisexual, purple, in heads arranged in terminal tomentose panicles; capitula 1 flowered, receptacle small; involucre tubular 0.3 cm across; phyllaries thick scarious-outer orbicular-ovate 1.3-1 mm, pubescent without, obtuse, inner one oblong, 4.5 x 1.5 mm, thinly ciliate-glabrescent, 3-nerved, faint, ending abruptly in the middle, calyx tube adnate to the ovary, pappus 1 seriate, to 7 mm, barbellate; corolla 5 mm across; tube cylindric 6.5 mm, lobes lanceolate, 3.5 mm; stamens 5, inserted within the corolla tube, anthers 2.5 mm, base fimbriate, basifixed, connate, connective produced upwards; ovary oblong, 1-celled, shortly beaked above, 2.2 x 1.5 mm, narrowed below ovule solitary, erect, style 1 cm, linearly 2 fid; stigma puberulous, recurved, acute. Fruit an achene, 2 mm long, 10-ribbed with glands in between, pappus hairs white.
|
|
Habit:
Tree
|
|
Flowering & Fruiting:
September-March
|
|
District(s):
Palakkad, Malappuram, Thrissur, Idukki, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Kannur, Thiruvananthapuram, Wayanad
|
|
Medicinal:
|
|
Habitat:
Evergreen forests
|
|
Distribution:
Indo-Malesia
|
|
Aquatic:
No
|
|
Epiphyte(s):
No
|
|
Saprophyte:
No
|
|
Stem parasite:
No
|
|
Root parasite:
No
|
|
Flower colour(s):
Violet, Rose
|
|
Weed:
No
|
|
Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
|
|
Exotic:
No
|
|
Garden:
No
|
|
Edible:
No
|
|
Vegetable:
No
|
|
Endemic to:
|
|
IUCN status:
|
|
Altitude:
700-1200
|
|
Localities:
Sholayar, Kollathirumedu, Thekkady, Karimala, Nelluyampathy forests, Kadalar, Damsite, Moozhiar, Arampa, Chandanathode, Teerthundamala, Lock-hert gap, Anavayee forests, Ayyappankovil-Kaikatty area, Thalichola, Attayar
|
|