Rapanea thwaitesii Mez - MYRSINACEAE

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Status: Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Small trees up to 7 m tall.
Trunk & Bark : Bark greyish, lenticellate; blaze cream.
Branches and branchlets : Young branchlets terete, glabrous, lenticellate, with scars of fallen leaves.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, spiral, clustered at twig ends; petiole 0.5-0.7 cm long, planoconvex in cross section, glabrous; lamina 5-12 x 1-4.5 cm, obovate, apex rounded or retuse, base attenuate, margin entire, transparent gland dotted and in lines, glabrous, coriaceous; midrib flat above; secondary_nerves ca. 14 pairs, not prominent; tertiary_nerves obscure.
Inflorescence / Flower : Inflorescence umbels, sessile, axillary or on old branchlets; flowers bisexual; pedicel 1.5 cm long.
Fruit and Seed : Berry, globose, purple; seed one.

Ecology :

Understorey trees in high elevation evergreen forests between 1600 and 2200 m. .

Distribution :

Endemic to the Western_Ghats- Anaimalai and Palni hills.

Status: :

Rare & Threatened (Ahmedullah and Nayar, 1987).

Literatures :

Engler, Pflanzenr. IV 236(9): 357. 1902; Gamble, Fl. Madras 2: 751.1993 (re.ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 267. 2004.

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