Orophea thomsoni Bedd. - ANNONACEAE

English   Kannada   Malayalam   Tamil   

Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Status Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Small trees or large shrubs, up to 5 m tall.
Branches and Branchlets : Young branchlets tomentose.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, distichous; petioles 0.2-0.5 cm long; lamina 5-6.5 x 2.5-3.5 cm, ovate-elliptic, apex long acuminate, base cuneate, glabrous except midrib beneath; secondary_nerves ca. 6 pairs, slender; tertiary_nerves reticulate.
Inflorescence / Flower : Flowers creamy white, axillary, solitary or 2-3 together; peduncles strigose; pedicels very short, slender, pubescent.
Fruit and Seed : Clustered 1-2 seeded berries, pisiform.

Ecology :

Understorey tree in medium elevation wet evergreen forests, between 600 and 1000 m.

Distribution :

Endemic to the Western_Ghats- rare in South Sahyadri (Agasthyamalai and Anamalai Hills).

Status :

Endangered (IUCN, 2000).

Literatures :

Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. 20: 5. 1846; Gamble, Fl. Madras 1: 24. 1997 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 19. 2004.

Top of the Page