Mitrephora heyneana (J. Hk. & Thoms.) Thw. - ANNONACEAE

Synonym : Orophea heyneana Hook. f. & Thomson

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Small trees, ca.12 m tall.
Branches and Branchlets : Branchlets slender, terete, glabrous.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, distichous; petiole 0.4-0.6 cm long, canaliculate, glabrous; lamina 4-10 x 2-3.8 cm, narrow ovate to elliptic-ovate, apex obtusely acute or narrowly acuminate with blunt tip, base acute to cuneate, sometimes rounded, subcoriaceous, glabrous, shining, midrib flat above; secondary_nerves 6-8 pairs, slender, moderately ascending; tertiary and higher order nerves finely reticulate.
Inflorescence / Flower : Flowers solitary or 2-3 in leaf opposed cymes, yellowish with pink tinge; pedicels 0.3-0.5 cm.
Fruit and Seed : Clustered 1-3 seeded berries, subsessile, globose or cylindric with constriction between seeds, yellow tomentose.

Ecology :

Understorey tree in dry evergreen forests up to 800 m.

Distribution :

Western_Ghats (eastern slopes of Agasthyamalai, Varushanad Hills, Palani and Nilgiris) and Sri Lanka.

Literatures :

Thwaites and Hooker, Enum. Pl. Zeyl. 8. 1864; Gamble, Fl. Madras 1: 19. 1997 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 18. 2004.

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