Ochreinauclea missionis (Wall. ex G. Don) Ridsd. - RUBIACEAE

Synonym : Nauclea missionis Wall. ex G. Don

Vernacular names : Tamil: Attu-vanjiMalayalam: Attu-vanji, Nirvanchi

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution status Literature

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Evergreen trees up to 25 m tall.
Trunk\bark : Bark greyish-brown, smooth; blaze reddish.
Branchlets : Young branchlets slightly angular, terete when mature, glabrous.
Leaves : Leaves simple, opposite, decussate; stipules interpetiolar, caducous and leaving scar; petioles ca. 1 cm long, planoconvex in cross section, glabrous; lamina 8.5-16 x 3-6 cm, lanceolate, elliptic or obovate, apex acute to obtuse, base attenuate or decurrent, margin entire, chartaceous, glabrous beneath; midrib flat above; secondary_nerves 10-13 pairs; tertiary_nerves broadly reticulate.
Flowers : Inflorescence globose head, terminal; flowers sessile, yellowish white.
Fruit& seed : 2-celled pyrenes in globose mass, fleshy; seeds ovoid, few in each cell.

Ecology :

Trees along streams in evergreen forests up to 700 m.

Distribution :

Endemic to Western_Ghats- South Sahyadri, Palakkad hills and Malabar.

status :

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

Literature :

Blumea 24. 332. 1978; Gamble, Fl. Madras 2: 582. 1993 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 226. 2004; Almeida, Fl. Maharashtra 3:42. 2001.

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