Psychotria truncata Wall. - RUBIACEAE

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literature

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Large shrubs or small trees ca. 5 m tall.
Branchlets : Young branchlets subterete to compressed, glabrous.
Leaves : Leaves simple, opposite, decussate; stipules intrapetiolar, ovate -lanceolate, sheathing; petiole 0.8-3 cm, planoconvex in cross section, glabrous; lamina 10-25 x 4.5-10 cm, obovate to wide obovate, sometimes elliptic, apex abruptly and shortly acuminate, base cuneate - decurrent, margin revolute, chartaceous or thinly coriaceous, glabrous beneath; midrib and secondary_nerves raised above; secondary_nerves 13-18 pairs, parallel, gradually curved, domatia present at the axils; tertiary_nerves closely and obliquely percurrent.
Flowers : Inflorescence terminal with branches terminating in cymes; flowers white, sessile.
Fruit& seed : Drupe, ovoid, with two planoconvex pyrenes; seeds 1 per pyrene.

Ecology :

Undergrowth in wet evergreen forests generally between 600 and 2000 m.

Distribution :

Endemic to the Western_Ghats- Rare in South Sahyadri and frequent in Central Sahyadri.

Literature :

Wall. in Roxb. Fl. Ind.2: 162. 1824; Gamble, Fl. Madras 2: 640. 1993 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 233. 2004; Cook, Fl. Bombay 1: 616.1903; Almeida, Fl. Maharashtra 3:55. 2001.

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