Schefflera stellata (Gaertn.) Harms - ARALIACEAE

Synonym : Heptapleurum stellatum Gaertn.

Vernacular names : Malayalam: Kappamaram, Urumamkai.

English   Kannada   Malayalam   Tamil   

Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Small trees or apparently straggling shrubs.
Leaves : Leaves compound, digitate, alternate, spiral, pulvinate, stipule adnate to the petiole; petioles 6-20 cm long, sheathing at base; petiolule 2-6 cm long; leaflets 3-6, usually 5, lamina 4.2-10 x 3.5-6.4 cm, obovate, sometimes oblique, apex rounded to slightly obtuse or emarginate, base attenuate, glabrous, shining above, margin recurved; midrib impressed above; secondary_nerves 4-6 pairs, looped; tertiary_nerves broadly reticulate.
Inflorescence / Flower : Flowers in umbels arranged in panicled racemes, 5-8 per umbel.
Fruit and Seed : Drupe, subglobose, 0.4-0.5 cm diameter; style tip persistent in fruits; seeds compressed.

Ecology :

Along streams or in open evergreen forests up to 2000 m.

Distribution :

Peninsular India and Sri Lanka; in the Western_Ghats- South and Central Sahyadris.

Literatures :

Engler & Prantl, Naturl Pflanzenfam. 3 (8): 39. 1894; Gamble, Fl. Madras 1: 570. 1997 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 207. 2004; Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 2: 275. 1996.

Top of the Page