Melicope indica Wt. - RUTACEAE

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution status Literature

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Large shrubs to small trees up to 4 m tall.
Branchlets : Young branchlets quadrangular, glabrous.
Leaves : Leaves unifoliolate, opposite, decussate; petiole 0.7-2 cm long, planoconvex in cross section, glabrous; lamina 5-13 x 2.2-6 cm, elliptic to elliptic-obovate, apex shortly acuminate with blunt tip or obtuse, base acute, margin entire and revolute, glandular punctate, glabrous; midrib canaliculate to slightly raised; secondary_nerves ca. 9 pairs, looped near margin; tertiary_nerves admedially ramified.
Flowers : Inflorescence axillary cymes; pedicel 0.4 cm long.
Fruit& seed : Capsules, 4-valved; seeds 1 locule.

Ecology :

Undergrowth in high elevation evergreen forests between 1800 and 2400 m.

Distribution :

Endemic to the Western_Ghats- Nilgiris.

status :

Vulnerable (Nayar & Sastry 1990); Endangered (IUCN, 2000).

Literature :

Wight, Ic. t. 1051. 1845; Gamble, Fl. Madras 1: 149. 1997 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 81. 2004.

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