Aphananthe cuspidata (Bl.) Planch. - ULMACEAE

Synonym : Cyclostemon cuspidatum Bl.; Gironniera cuspidata (Bl.) Planc. ex Kurz. ; Gironniera reticulata Thw.

Vernacular names : Tamil: KoditaniMalayalam: Bhuthiyunarthi, Thondupoliyan, Kattupilli

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literature

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Buttressed trees, up to 30 m tall.
Trunk\bark : Bark brown, exfoliating in to rectangular flakes; blaze reddish.
Branchlets : Branchlets subterete, appresedly minute pubescent when young, later glabrous.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, distichous; petiole 0.6-1.2 cm long, canaliculate above, glabrous; lamina 10-17.5 x 3-7 cm, ovate - oblong or elliptic-lanceolate, apex cuspidate to caudate-acuminate, base rounded to sltightly attenuate, margin entire (serrate towards apex in saplings), coriaceous, dark green and shining above; midrib slightly canaliculate above; secondary_nerves 8-14 pairs, ascendingly curved; tertiary_nerves reticulo-percurrent.
Flowers : Flowers unisexual, subsessile; male flowers in axillary cymes; female flowers solitary.
Fruit& seed : Drupe, ovoid, beaked, glabrous; seed one.

Ecology :

Canopy trees in wet evergreen forests between 300 and 1000 m.

Distribution :

India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Indochina; in the Western_Ghats- Occassional in Central Sahyadris.

Literature :

DC, Prodr. 17: 209. 1873; Gamble, Fl. Madras 3: 1349. 1998 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 436. 2004; Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 1: 105.1984; Cook, Fl. Bombay 2: 631.1908.

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