Leea indica (Burm.f.) Merr. - LEEACEAE

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Large shrubs or small trees, up to 5 m tall.
Trunk & Bark : Stems several to single, often with stilt roots.
Branches and Branchlets : Young branchlets angled, glabrescent.
Leaves : Leaves compound, bipinnate to tripinnate, alternate, spiral; rachis 10-20 cm, long; petiolules 0.5-2.5 cm; stipules purple, sheathing, obovate-oblong, glabrous; leaflets 6-21 x 3.5-7.5 cm, ovate to lanceolate, apex acuminate to caudate, base acute to rounded, margin serrate to dentate, glabrous, chartaceous, drying brown; midrib raised above; secondary_nerves 7-12 pairs; tertiary_nerves reticulo-percurrent.
Inflorescence / Flower : Inflorescence corymbose cymes; calyx green, petals cream.
Fruit and Seed : Berry, depressed, globose, ca.0.7 cm across, purple black; seeds 4-6.

Ecology :

Common undergrowth in secondary and disturbed evergreen forests.

Distribution :

Indomalaysia, Indochina, Australia and Pacific Islands; in the Western_Ghats- through out.

Literatures :

Philipp. J. Sci. 14. 245; Gamble, Fl. Madras 1: 240. 1997 (re. ed); Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 2: 174. 1996; Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 106. 2004.

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