Olea dioica Roxb. - OLEACEAE

Vernacular names : Malayalam: Edana; Etala; Irippa; Karivetti; Palarana; Valiya vetila; Vayala; Vidna; VetilaKannada: Tadale; Kalluthodli

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Trees up to 15 m tall.
Trunk & Bark : Bark brownish, rough; blaze pale brown.
Branches and branchlets : Young branchlets subquadrangular, lenticellate, glabrous.
Leaves : Leaves simple, opposite, decussate; petiole 0.6-1.3 cm long, canaliculate; lamina 7.5-17.5 x 2.3-7.5 cm, elliptic to elliptic-oblong, apex gradually acuminate to subacute, base acute or attenuate, margin distantly serrate (with strong teeth) or entire, coriaceous to subcoriaceous, glabrous; midrib flat above, usually reddish when dry; secondary_nerves 8-12 pairs; tertiary and higher order nerves obscure or slightly impressed.
Inflorescence / Flower : Inflorescence axillary divaricate panicles; flowers polygamodioecious, cream-white; pedicel 0.4 cm long.
Fruit and Seed : Drupe, ellipsoid, blue when ripe; seed one.

Ecology :

Understorey trees in open evergreen to semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forests up to 1200 m.

Distribution :

India; in the Western_Ghats- throughout.

Literatures :

DC, Prodr. 8: 294. 1844; Gamble, Fl. Madras 2: 796.1993 (re.ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 279. 2004; Cook, Fl. Bombay 2: 118. 1908; Almeida, Fl. Maharashtra 3:190. 2001.

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