Ardisia rhomboidea Wt. - MYRSINACEAE

Vernacular names : Tamil: Nirkarai

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Small trees up to 5 m tall.
Branches and branchlets : Branches horizontal; young branchlets terete, densely scaly.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, spiral; petiole 0.4-0.8 cm long, slender, glabrous when mature; lamina 2.3-6 x 1.3-2.8 cm, rhomboid or elliptic-oblanceolate, apex acute to acuminate with blunt tip, base attenuate or cuneate, margin entire or obscurely crenulate, recurved, glabrous, chartaceous; midrib slightly canaliculate above; secondary_nerves and tertiary_nerves obscure.
Inflorescence / Flower : Inflorescence axillary umbellate cymes; flowers pinkish-white; peduncle 1-1.5 cm long; pedicel 0.6-0.8 cm long, slender.
Fruit and Seed : Berry, ca. 0.6 cm across, with persistent stylar base.

Ecology :

Common understorey trees in high elevation evergreen forests usually between 1400 and 1800 m.

Distribution :

Endemic to the Western_Ghats- Agasthyamalai, Anaimalai and Nilgiris.

Literatures :

Wight, Ic. t. 1213.1848; Gamble, Fl. Madras 2: 755. 1993 (re.ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 265. 2004.

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