Ardisia solanacea Roxb. - MYRSINACEAE

Vernacular names : Tamil: Manipudbam; KozhikkotaiMalayalam: Kakanjara; Kolarakku; Kuzhimundan; Molakka

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Small trees up to 6 m tall.
Trunk & Bark : Bark brown, smooth.
Branches and branchlets : Young branchlets subterete, glabrous.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, spiral; petiole ca. 1 cm long, stout, canaliculate, glabrous; lamina 10-21.5 (34) x 4-7.5 (11.5) cm, elliptic-obovate or oblanceolate, apex acute to acuminate, base attenuate to cuneate, margin entire or obscurely crenate towards apex, glabrous, glaucous beneath, coriaceous, gland dotted; midrib flat above; secondary_nerves 9-20 pairs, slender; tertiary_nerves broadly reticulate or obscure.
Inflorescence / Flower : Inflorescence axillary or lateral umbels; flowers pink; peduncle up to 12 cm long.
Fruit and Seed : Berry, globose, 0.8 cm across, bright red; seed one.

Ecology :

Understorey trees in disturbed evergreen to semi-evergreen forests up to 1200 m.

Distribution :

Indomalaysia and West China; in the Western_Ghats- South, Central and Maharashtra Sahyadris.

Literatures :

Roxb., Pl. Corom. t. 27. 1795; Gamble, Fl. Madras 2: 756. 1993 (re.ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 265. 2004; Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 1: 348. 1984; Cook, Fl. Bombay 2: 86. 1908; Almeida, Fl. Maharashtra 3a: 160. 1998.

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