Pittosporum neelgherrense Wt. & Arn. - PITTOSPORACEAE

Synonym : Pittosporum nilghirense Wt. & Arn.

Vernacular names : Malayalam: Analivenga

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Small trees up to 5 m tall.
Branches and branchlets : Branchlets slender, terete, glabrous, lenticellate.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, spiral, usually crowded at apex; petiole 0.5-1.2 cm long, canaliculate, glabrous; lamina 2.5-10 x 1.3-5 cm, elliptic or obovate, apex acute or subacuminate, sometimes obtuse, base acute, margin entire to crenulate; chartaceous or thinly coriaceous, glabrous; midrib canaliculate; secondary_nerves 5-8 pairs thin, branched; tertiary_nerves finely reticulate, sometimes obscure.
Inflorescence / Flower : Inflorescence few flowered racemes; flowers yellow; pedicel up to 1 cm long.
Fruit and Seed : Capsule, obliquely 2-valved, ca. 1 cm across; pedicel filiform; seeds 4-8.

Ecology :

Trees along margins of mediuma and high elevation evergreen forests between 1200 m and 2300 m.

Distribution :

Endemic to the southern Western_Ghats- South Sahyadri and Bababudangiri hills in Central Sahyadri.

Literatures :

Wight & Arn., Prodr. 154. 1834; Gamble, Fl. Madras 1: 55. 1997 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 33. 2004; Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 1: 358. 1984.

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