Myristica malabarica Lamark. - MYRISTICACEAE

Vernacular names : Malayalam: Kattujathi; Kattujathikka; Kottappannu; Panampalka; Pathiripoovu; Ponnampannu; Ponnampayin; PonnampuKannada: Kanage; Doddajajikai

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Status: Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Trees ca. 25 m tall.
Trunk & Bark : Bark greenish-black, smooth; blaze reddish.
Branches and branchlets : Branches horizontal; branchlets subterete, glabrous.
Exudates : Sap red from cut end of bark, profuse.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, distichous; petiole 1.0-1.5 cm long, canaliculate above, glabrous; lamina 9.5-22 x 3.7-10 cm, elliptic or elliptic-oblong, apex acute or subacute, base acute or attenuate, margin entire, glossy above, glabrous and glaucous beneath, coriaceous; midrib raised above; secondary_nerves 8-14 pairs, slender, slightly impressed above; tertiary_nerves broadly reticulate or obscure.
Inflorescence / Flower : Flowers unisexual, urceolate, white; male flowers numerous, smaller than female flowers, in axillary cymes; female flowers in umbels, 5-6 flowered.
Fruit and Seed : Capsule 5-7.5 x 1.8-3.5, oblong, pubescent; seed one, oblong; aril covering the seed yellow and laciniate.

Ecology :

Subcanopy trees in evergreen forests up to 800 m.

Distribution :

Endemic to the Western_Ghats- South and Central Sahyadris.

Status: :

Vulnerable (IUCN, 2000).

Literatures :

Acad. Roy. Sci. Mem. Math. Phys. (Paris) 162. 1791; Gamble, Fl. Madras 3: 1213.1993 (re.ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 394. 2004; Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 1: 54. 1984; Cook, Fl. Bombay 2: 530. 1908; Almeida, Fl. Maharashtra 4a: 250. 2003.

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