Lepisanthes erecta - SAPINDACEAE

Synonym : Thrauloccocus erectus Radlk.

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literature

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Large shrubs to small trees up to 5 m tall.
Trunk\bark : Bark grey, lenticellate.
Branchlets : Branchlets terete, lenticellate, slightly pubescent when young.
Leaves : Leaves compound, paripinnate, alternate, spiral, to 60 cm long; rachis pulvinate, obscurely striate, pubescent when young; petiolule 0.5-1 cm, canaliculate, glabrous; leaflets 4-6 pairs, opposite-subopposite or alternate, 12-21 x 3.5-6 cm, narrow elliptic to elliptic-oblong, apex acuminate, base acute to attenuate, margin entire, chartaceous, glabrous; midrib raised above; secondary_nerves 8-10 pairs, gradually curved and ascending; tertiary_nerves broadly reticulate.
Flowers : Inflorescence axillary or terminal panicles; flowers polygamodioecious, white, sessile.
Fruit& seed : Drupes of 1-3, basally connate, ellipsoid, 3.5 x 2 cm; seeds ellipsoid, black.

Ecology :

Undergrowth in wet evergreen forests between 700 and 1400 m.

Distribution :

Western_Ghats, Sri Lanka, Myanmar; in the Western_Ghats- Anaimalai, Palakkad and Wayanad.

Literature :

Radlk., Sitzungsber. Math.-Phys. Cl. Koenigl. Bayer. Akad. Wiss. Muenchen 8: 276. 1878; Gamble, Fl. Madras 1: 251. 1997 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 108. 2004.

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