Ilex wightiana Wall.ex Wt. - AQUIFOLIACEAE

Vernacular names : Malayalam: Velodi.

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Evergreen trees, up to 20 m tall.
Trunk & Bark : Bark smooth, grey, lenticellate; blaze cream.
Branches and Branchlets : Branchlets terete, glabrous, sometimes with purple tinge.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, spiral; petioles 0.7 cm long, canaliculate; lamina 3-6.5 x 1-3 cm, elliptic sometimes obovate, apex acuminate, base acute, margin entire, glabrous, coriaceous; midrib canaliculate; secondary_nerves 6 pairs; tertiary_nerves obscure.
Inflorescence / Flower : Flowers unisexual, dioecious; male flowers white, in short pedunculate cymes, peduncles 0.8-1.25 cm long; female flowers in axillary fascicles.
Fruit and Seed : Drupe, globose, red, apiculate; locule 6, each 1-seeded.

Ecology :

Canopy trees in high elevation evergreen forests, between 1800 and 2400 m.

Distribution :

Peninsular India and Sri Lanka; in the Western_Ghats- Nilgiris, Anamalai and Palani Hills.

Literatures :

Wight, Ic. Pl. Ind. Orient. t. 1216. 1848; Gamble, Fl. Madras 1: 200. 1997 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 95. 2004.

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