Helicia nilagirica Bedd. - PROTEACEAE

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Small trees up to 8 m tall.
Branches and branchlets : Branchlets subterete, glabrous.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, spiral; petiole 0.5-1.5 cm long, planoconvex in cross section, swollen at base, glabrous; lamina 6-9 x 2.5-4 cm, elliptic to elliptic-obovate or sometimes spathulate, apex acuminate, base cuneate, margin distantly dentate and glands at the dentations, coriaceous, glabrous; midrib raised above; secondary_nerves ca. 6 pairs; tertiary_nerves broadly reticulate.
Inflorescence / Flower : Inflorescence axillary racemes; flowers subsessile, white with purple tinge.
Fruit and Seed : Drupe, globose, 1-1.5 cm across, green; seeds 1-2, rugose.

Ecology :

Understorey trees in evergreen forests between 500 and 1700 m.

Distribution :

Endemic to the southern Western_Ghats- South Sahyadri.

Literatures :

Madras J. Lit. Sci. ser. 3, 1: 50. t. 11. 1864; Gamble, Fl. Madras 2: 1243. 1993 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 401. 2004; Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 2: 55. 1996.

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