Pittosporum tetraspermum Wt. & Arn. - PITTOSPORACEAE

Vernacular names : Tamil: SuneriMalayalam: Kachapatta

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Small trees up to 8 m tall.
Trunk & Bark : Bark brown, lenticellate, finely fissured; blaze white.
Branches and branchlets : Young branchlets terete, pubescent, lenticellate.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, spiral, usually crowded at apex; petiole 1.5-2 cm long, canaliculate, minutely pubescent when young; lamina 5-10 x 2-4 cm, obovate to oblanceolate or narrow elliptic, apex acute to shortly acuminate, sometimes obtuse, base cuneate, margin entire; subcoriaceous, pale beneath, glabrous; midrib slightly canaliculate; secondary_nerves ca. 9 pairs; tertiary_nerves reticulate.
Inflorescence / Flower : Inflorescence racemes; flowers cream; pedicel 0.5 cm long.
Fruit and Seed : Capsule, 2 valved, ca. 1 cm across; seeds 4.

Ecology :

Along margins of evergreen forests above 1600 m.

Distribution :

Peninsular India and Sri Lanka; in the Western_Ghats- Anaimalai, Palani hills, Nilgiris and Bababudangiri hills.

Literatures :

Wight & Arn., Prodr. 154. 1834; Gamble, Fl. Madras 1: 55. 1997 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 34. 2004; Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 1: 358. 1984.

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