Scleropyrum pentandrum (Denn.) Mabberley - SANTALACEAE

Synonym : Scleropyrum wallichianum Arn.

Vernacular names : Malayalam: IrumulliKannada: Benduga, Naikkuli

English   Kannada   Tamil   

Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literature

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Small trees up to 7 m tall.
Trunk\bark : Trunk thorny; bark smooth, greyish-white; blaze yellowish.
Branchlets : Young branchlets green, terete, glabrous, with axillary spines.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, spiral; petiole 0.4-0.8 cm long, canaliculate in cross section, glabrous; lamina 8.5-17.5 x 4-7.5, elliptic to elliptic-oblong or ovate, apex acute with blunt tip or obtuse, base rounded, margin entire, coriaceous, glabrous; midrib flat or slightly canaliculate above; secondary_nerves 3-5 pairs, ascending, often lower most pair opposite; tertiary_nerves slender, reticulo-percurrent.
Flowers : Inflorescence axillary spikes; flowers polygamous, red, sessile.
Fruit& seed : Drupe, pyriform, 3 cm long, red; seed one.

Ecology :

Along margin of evergreen to semi-evergreen forests between 600 and 1600 m.

Distribution :

Peninsular India and Sri Lanka; in the Western_Ghats- South and Central Sahyadris.

Literature :

Mabb., Taxon 26: 533. 1977; Gamble, Fl. Madras 2: 1262. 1993 (re.ed.); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 406. 2004; Saldanha, Fl. Karnataka 2: 74. 1996; Almeida, Fl. Maharashtra 4:276. 2003.

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