Mitragyna parvifolia (Roxb.) Korth. - RUBIACEAE

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Vernacular names : Tamil: Nir-kadambaiMalayalam: Vimba, Sirakadambu, Kadamba, Neerkadambu, Poochakadambu, Rose kadambu, VeembuKannada: Kongu, NayekadambeEnglish: Kaim

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literature

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Deciduous trees, up to 20 m tall.
Trunk\bark : Bark grey, smooth and thin irregularly scaly when mature.
Branchlets : Young branchlets angular to subterete, glabrous.
Leaves : Leaves simple, opposite, decussate; stipules foliacous with keeled back, interpetiolar, caducous and leaving scar; petioles 1-4 cm long, canaliculate in cross section, glabrous; lamina 16 x 10 cm, ovate, elliptic-obovate to orbiculate, apex abruptly acuminate with blunt tip, rarely acute, base acute to attenuate to subcordate, margin entire, coriaceous, glabrous; midrib flat above; secondary_nerves 6-10 pairs, hairy domatia present at axils; tertiary_nerves distantly obliquely reticulo-percurrent.
Flowers : Inflorescence terminal head; flowers sessile, cream-white; calyx lobes short.
Fruit& seed : Capsules, arranged in globose heads, each with 2-folicular cocci; seeds many, winged.

Ecology :

Trees in semi-evergreen to moist deciduous forests up to 900 m.

Distribution :

Indomalaysia; in the Western_Ghats- throughout.

Literature :

Observ. Naucl. Ind. 19. 1839; Gamble, Fl. Madras 2: 585. 1993 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 222. 2004; Cook, Fl. Bombay 1: 581.1903; Almeida, Fl. Maharashtra 3:29. 2001.

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