Knema attenuata (J.Hk. & Th.) Warb. - MYRISTICACEAE

Synonym : Myristica attenuata Wall. ex Hk.f. & Thoms.

Vernacular names : Tamil: Chora pathiriMalayalam: Chennelli; Chorapali; Chorapam; Chorapanu; Chorapathiri; ChorapayinKannada: Raktamara

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Trees up to 20 m tall.
Trunk & Bark : Bark brownish, usually smooth, irregulary flaky; blaze reddish.
Branches and branchlets : Branches verticillate and horizontal; young branchlets terete, rusty tomentose.
Exudates : Sap red from cut end of bark, profuse.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, distichous; petiole 0.6-1.3 cm, stout, canaliculate, fulvous stellate tomentose when young and glabrous when mature; lamina 12-23 x 3.5-8 cm, narrow oblong to oblong or narrow-elliptic to lanceolate, apex gradually acute to acuminate, base rounded or acute, margin entire, chartaceous to subcoriaceous, shining above, glaucous beneath, fulvous stellate tomentose when young; midrib raised above; secondary_nerves prominent, 13-21 pairs, gradually curved, prominently raised beneath and slightly raised above; tertiary_nerves closely obliquely percurrent.
Inflorescence / Flower : Flowers unisexual, dioecious; male flowers on short axillary peduncle, fulvous stellate tomentose; female flowers 1-3, pedicel up to 0.8 cm long.
Fruit and Seed : Capsule, elliptic, to 4 cm long, 2-valved, apiculate, fulvous tomentose; seed one with crimson red lacinated aril.

Ecology :

Common subcanopy trees in evergreen forests up to 1400 m.

Distribution :

Endemic to the Western_Ghats- South, Central and south Maharashtra Sahyadris.

Literatures :

Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. (Calcutta) 3: 291, t. 118. f. 1-8, 1891 ; Gamble, Fl. Madras 2: 1215.1993 (re.ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 393. 2004; Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 1: 53. 1984; Cook, Fl. Bombay 2: 531. 1908; Almeida, Fl. Maharashtra 4a: 248. 2003.

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