Polyalthia coffeoides (Thw.) J. Hk. & Thoms. - ANNONACEAE

Synonym : Guatteria coffeoides Thw.

Vernacular names : Tamil: Nakulai, Nedunarai.  Malayalam: Nedunar, Villa.

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Trees, up to up to 20 m.
Trunk & Bark : Trunk tubercled; Bark smooth, blaze cream.
Branches and Branchlets : Branchlets terete, glabrous.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, distichous; petiole 0.6-1 cm long, stout; lamina 10-27 x 3.5-8.5 cm, lanceolate, sometimes narrow elliptic, apex acuminate, base acute, and sometimes slightly oblique on one side, margin undulate, shining above; secondary_nerves 9-16 pairs, ascending; tertiary_nerves filiform, percurrent.
Inflorescence / Flower : Flowers solitary or in clusters on branchlets and on tubercles of trunk, greenish yellow with red tinge.
Fruit and Seed : Cluster of 1-seeded berries.

Ecology :

Subcanopy trees in low and medium elevation evergreen forests up to 1200 m.

Distribution :

Western_Ghats (South and Central Sahyadris) and Sri Lanka.

Literatures :

Hooker, Fl. Brit. India 1: 62. 1872; Gamble, Fl. Madras 1: 16. 1997 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 19. 2004; Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 1: 48. 1984; Keshava Murthy and Yoganarasimhan, Fl. Coorg (Kodagu) 33. 1990.

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