Rinorea bengalensis (Wall.) O.Ktze. - VIOLACEAE

Synonym : Alsodeia bengalensis Wall.; Alsodeia zeylanica (Arn.) Thw.

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literature

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Trees up to 7 m tall.
Trunk\bark : Bark smooth; blaze yellow.
Branchlets : Young branchlets angular to terete, minutely pubescent, lenticellate.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, distichous; stipule lateral, linear-lanceolate, pubescent, caducous and leaving scar; petiole 0.7-1.5 cm long, canaliculate, glabrous; lamina 9-19 x 3.5-6.7 cm, narrow elliptic to elliptic-oblong, apex acuminate with mucronate tip, base acute, margin serrate-crenate, coriaceous, glabrous; midrib raised above; secondary_nerves 6-10 pairs, domatia present at axils; tertiary_nerves closely and horizontally reticulo-percurrent.
Flowers : Inflorescence axillary fascicled; flowers white, sessile.
Fruit& seed : Capsule, smooth, 3-valved; seeds 3.

Ecology :

Understorey trees in wet evergreen forests up to 800 m.

Distribution :

Indomalaysia, Australia and Pacific Islands; in the Western_Ghats- South and Central (Coorg and Chikmagalur Regions) Shayadris.

Literature :

O.Ktze., Rev. Gen. Pl. 1: 42. 1891; Gamble, Fl. Madras 1: 49. 1997 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 30. 2004; Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 1: 276.1984; Almeida, Fl. Maharashtra 1:59. 1996.

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