Holigarna grahamii (Wt.)Kurz. - ANACARDIACEAE

Synonym : Semecarpus grahamii Wt.

Vernacular names : Malayalam: Cheru

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Status Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Large trees, up to 35 m tall.
Trunk & Bark : Bark smooth, grey.
Branches and Branchlets : Branchlets stout, ferruginous pubescent.
Exudates : Latex black.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, spiral, clustered at the twig ends; petiole 2 cm long, ferruginous tomentose, with 2 pairs of stout, densely tomentose spurs; lamina 15-44 x 10-17 cm, oblanceolate, upper half broadly triangular with acuminate apex, lower half narrow with cuneate base, margin entire, coriaceous, ferruginous tomentose beneath, glabrous above; midrib flat and glabrous above; secondary_nerves 22-32 pairs; tertiary_nerves broadly reticulate.
Inflorescence / Flower : Inflorescence terminal panicle, brown tomentose; flowers polygamous, white.
Fruit and Seed : Drupe ellipsoid and little exerted from torus, 2.2 cm long, rusty tomentose, 1-seeded.

Ecology :

Canopy trees in semi-evergreen to wet evergreen forests at low elevations (between 200 and 700 m).

Distribution :

Endemic to Western_Ghats, common from South Sahyadri to Central Sahyadri and rare in North Sahyadri.

Status :

Rare (Nayar, 1997).

Literatures :

J. As. Soc. Bengal 41: 306. 1872; Gamble, Fl. Madras 1: 268-269. 1997 (re. ed); Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 2: 205. 1996; Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 112. 2004.

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