Drypetes malabarica (Bedd.) Airy Shaw - EUPHORBIACEAE

Synonym : Cyclostemon malabaricus Bedd.

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Status Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Trees up to 20 m tall.
Branches and Branchlets : Branchlets terete, densely brown tomentose.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, distichous; stipules linear - lanceolate, to 0.6 cm long, in pairs, brown tomentose; petiole 0.5-0.6 cm long, terete, brown tomentose; lamina 14-27 x 3-8.5 cm, oblong, apex gradually or abruptly acuminate, base asymmetric, margin usually entire or distantly serrate, subcoriaceous, densely brown tomentose on midrib beneath, glabrous above; midrib flat above; secondary_nerves 7-10 pairs; tertiary_nerves horizontally reticulo-percurrent.
Inflorescence / Flower : Flowers unisexual, dioecious, in axillary or lateral clusters on older branches.
Fruit and Seed : Drupe, globose, brown tomentose, stalked.

Ecology :

Subcanopy trees in evergreen forests mostly in low elevation forests 200 and 800 m, sometimes extends up to 1000 m.

Distribution :

Endemic to the Western_Ghats- South Sahyadri.

Status :

Rare (Nayar, 1997).

Literatures :

Kew Bull. 23. 56. 1969; Gamble, Fl. Madras 2: 1302. 1993 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 415. 2004.

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