Turpinia cochinchinensis (Lour.) Merr. - STAPHYLEACEAE

Synonym : Triceros cochinchinensis Lour.; Turpinia nepalensis Wall. ex Wt. Arn.; Turpinia pomifera DC

Vernacular names : Tamil: Kanali, NilaMalayalam: Attuneermulla, Pambaravetti, Pambavetti, SamthaKannada: Nila

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literature

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Trees up to 12 m tall.
Trunk\bark : Bark brownish, smooth, shallowly fissured when mature; blaze cream.
Branchlets : Young branchlets angular to subterete, glabrous.
Leaves : Leaves compound, imparipinnate, opposite, decussate; stipule interpetiolar, caducous and leaving scar; rachis pulvinate, terete, glabrous; petiolule 0.5 long for lateral leaflets and 2 cm long with swollen apex in terminal one, canaliculate, glabrous; leaflets opposite, usually 3 or rarely 5, 7-13 x 3-5 cm, elliptic to elliptic-oblong to ovate, apex acuminate, base acute, margin serrate, coriaceous, glabrous; midrib thinly raised above; secondary_nerves 4-8 pairs, gradually curved and ascending towards apex; tertiary_nerves reticulo-percurrent.
Flowers : Inflorescence terminal or axillary panicle; flowers cream; pedicel ca. 0.1 cm long.
Fruit& seed : Berry, globose, 3-celled; seeds 3.

Ecology :

Subcanopy trees in high elevation evergreen forests above 1400 m.

Distribution :

Indomalaysia and China; in the Western_Ghats- South Sahyadri and Central Sahyadri (Nilgiris, Wayanad and Bababudangiri hills).

Literature :

J. Arnold Arbor. 19: 43. 1938; Gamble, Fl. Madras 1: 241. 1997 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 109. 2004; Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 2: 186. 1996; Almeida, Fl. Maharashtra 1:294. 1996; Cook, Fl. Bombay 1.

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