Murraya paniculata (L.) Jack. - RUTACEAE

Synonym : Murraya exotica L.

Vernacular names : Tamil: Kattu-karuveppilaiMalayalam: Kattukariveppu, MaramullaKannada: Angara kinaEnglish: The China box

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literature

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Large shrubs or small trees.
Trunk\bark : Bark grey, fissured; blaze cream.
Branchlets : Branchlets terete, glabrous, whitish.
Leaves : Leaves compound, imparipinate, alternate, spiral; rachis terete, glabrous; petiolule up to 0.4 cm long; leaflets 5, alternate 3.5-7.5 X 2-3 cm, elliptic, apex shortly acuminate with retuse tip, base asymmetric, margin entire or crenulate, chartaceous, dark green, glandular punctate; midrib raised above; secondary_nerves 6-10 pairs, looped near margin; tertiary_nerves obscure to broadly reticulate.
Flowers : Inflorescence few flowered panicles, axillary; flowers white, subsessile.
Fruit& seed : Berry ellipsoid, red when ripe; seeds 1-2.

Ecology :

Along margin of disturbed evergreen to semi-evergreen forests up to 1400 m.

Distribution :

Indomalaysia to Australia; in the Western_Ghats- throughout.

Literature :

Jack., Malay. Misc. 1: 31. 1820; Gamble, Fl. Madras 1: 155. 1997 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 82. 2004; Cook, Fl. Bombay 1: 182.1903; Almeida, Fl. Maharashtra 1:210. 1996; Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 2.

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