Elaeocarpus munronii (Wl.) Masters - ELAEOCARPACEAE

Synonym : Monocera munronii Wt.

Vernacular names : Tamil: Rudraksham  Malayalam: Pungari, Pungeri, Punkara,  Kannada: Nari bikki, Kal bikki

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Trees up to 15 m tall.
Trunk & Bark : Bark greyish, smooth; blaze cream.
Branches and Branchlets : Branches with architecture of “ Aubreville_model ”; branchlets terete with scars of fallen leaves.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, spiral, clustered at twig ends; stipules lanceolate, 0.3 cm long, caducous; petiole 1.8-4.5 cm long, slender, terete, swollen at both ends, glabrous; lamina 4.5-9 x 2-4.5 cm, ovate to narrow ovate, apex bluntly long acuminate, base rounded or subtruncate, margin crenate, subcoriaceous, glabrous; midrib flat above; secondary_nerves 4-7 pairs, branched with domatia in the axils beneath; tertiary_nerves reticulo-percurrent; higher order nerves strongly reticulate.
Inflorescence / Flower : Flowers axillary in racemes, white.
Fruit and Seed : Drupe, elliptic to 2 cm long, smooth, seed 1.

Ecology :

Generally common along margin of medium and high altitude evergreen forests between 700 and 2300 m.

Distribution :

Endemic to the Western_Ghats- South and Central Sahyadris.

Literatures :

Hook f. Fl. Brit. India 1: 407. 1874; Gamble, Fl. Madras 1: 124. 1997 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 64. 2004; Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 1: 212. 1996.

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