Prunus ceylanica (Wt.) Miq. - ROSACEAE

Synonym : Pygeum gardneri J. Hk.; Pygeum wightianum Bl. ex Muell

Vernacular names : Tamil: Palankacchi; Attanarei; Attanrikongu; Muttainari KonguMalayalam: Attanaripongu; Irattani; Naikambagam; Naithambagam; Rettiyan

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Large trees up to 20 m tall.
Trunk & Bark : Bark grey, irregularly large flaky, sometimes exfoliating; blaze reddish, smelling bitter almonds or bed bugs.
Branches and branchlets : Branchlets subterete, puberulous, lenticellate.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, distichous; stipule caducous and leaving scar; petiole 0.6-2.8 cm long, canaliculate, glabrous; lamina 7-17 x 2.5-6.5 cm, ovate to ovate -lanceolate, apex gradually acuminate with blunt tip, twisted, base rounded or asymmetric, sometimes attenuate, margin entire, coriaceous, glabrous, a pair of circular glands usually present near base beneath, sometimes present in upper half, rarely absent; midrib canaliculate above, reddish beneath; secondary_nerves 6-8 pairs, reddish when young, ascending; tertiary_nerves reticulo-percurrent.
Inflorescence / Flower : Inflorescence axillary racemes; flowers white.
Fruit and Seed : Drupe, shallowly 2-lobed, glabrous; seeds 2, compressed.

Ecology :

Subcanopy trees in evergreen forests between 400 and 2600 m.

Distribution :

Indomalaysia; in the Western_Ghats- throughout.

Literatures :

Fl. Ind. Bat. 1.387. 1857; Trans. Linn. Soc. London 13. 103. 1821; Gamble, Fl. Madras 1: 439. 1997 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 165. 2004; Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 1: 369. 1984; Cook, Fl. Bombay 1: 458.1903; Almeida, Fl. Maharashtra 2:228. 1998.

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