Diospyros foliolosa Wall. ex A.DC. - EBENACEAE

Vernacular names : Tamil: Velleithuvarai, Vellathovarai.  Malayalam: Katupanachi.

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Trees up to 12 m tall.
Trunk & Bark : Bark greyish, scaly; blaze reddish.
Branches and Branchlets : Branchlets slender, terete, glabrous.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, distichous; petiole 0.4-0.9 cm long, glabrous, canaliculate above; lamina 4-12 x 1-2.7 cm, lanceolate, apex acute or acuminate with blunt tip, base acute to attenuate, margin entire, subcoriaceous, glabrous; midrib flat above, secondary_nerves ca. 8 pairs, branched, ascending towards apex; tertiary_nerves distinctly reticulate.
Inflorescence / Flower : Flowers unisexual; male flowers in axillary cymes, pedunculate; female large, solitary, axillary.
Fruit and Seed : Berry, globose, to 2.5 cm across with fruiting_calyx_lobes accrescent, foliaceous; 4 seeded.

Ecology :

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

Distribution :

Endemic to the Western_Ghats- along the leeward side of Agasthyamalai, Periyar Region and Varushanad Hills in South Sahyadri.

Literatures :

DC. Prodr. 8. 234. 1844; Singh, Monograph on Indian Diospyros L. (Persimmon, Ebony) Ebenaceae. 107. 2005; Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 271. 2004; Gamble, Fl. Madras 2: 774. 1993 (re. ed).

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