Melia dubia Cav. - MELIACEAE

Synonym : Melia composita Willd.

Vernacular names : Tamil: Malay vembu; MasaveppuMalayalam: Aryaveppu; Malaveppu; Valiyaveppu; KattuveppuKannada: Betta bevu; Heb-bevu

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Tree up to 25 m tall.
Trunk & Bark : Bark dark brown, flakes large rectangular in shape.
Branches and branchlets : Young parts scurfy-tomentose, branchlets terete, glabrous when mature.
Leaves : Leaves compound, bipinnate to tripinnate, imparipinnate, alternate, spiral, up to 1 m long, pulvinate; rachis terete, to 30 cm long; petiolule 0.3-1.2 cm; pinnae 3-8 pairs; leaflets 2-11 on each pinnae, opposite, 4.5-9 x 2-4 cm, ovate - elliptic, apex acuminate, base cuneate or attenuate, asymmetric, margin crenate, coriaceous, glabrous when mature; midrib raised above; secondary_nerves ca. 10 pairs, gradually curved; tertiary_nerves broadly reticulate.
Inflorescence / Flower : Inflorescence axillary panicles, 12-20 cm long; flowers greenish-white.
Fruit and Seed : Drupe, ovoid or ellipsoid, with longitudinal ridges, pulpy, yellowish; seeds 1-6.

Ecology :

Subcanopy trees in semi-evergreen forests up to 1000 m.

Distribution :

Indomalaysia to Australia; in the Western_Ghats- South, Central and Maharashtra Sahyadris.

Literatures :

Diss. 7: 364. 1789; Gamble, Fl. Madras 1: 176.1997 (re.ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 90. 2004; Cook, Fl. Bombay 1:206. 1903; Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 2: 234. 1996; Almeida Fl. Maharashtra 1: 227. 1996.

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