Ternstroemia gymnanthera (Wt. & Arn.) Bedd. - THEACEAE

Synonym : Cleyera gymnanthera Wt. & Arn.; Ternstroemia japonica Linn.

Vernacular names : Kannada: Kiamonu

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literature

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Small trees up to 15 m tall.
Trunk\bark : Bark grey, irregularly scaly when mature; blaze pinkish.
Branchlets : Young branchlets reddish, terete, glabrous.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, spiral, clustered at twig ends; petiole 0.5-1.5 cm long, reddish, canaliculate, glabrous; lamina 4-10 x 1.2-3.5 cm, elliptic to elliptic-obovate, apex acute or obtuse and sometimes with retuse tip, base decurrent or attenuate, margin entire and revolute, glabrous, coriaceous, dark green and shining above, pale beneath; midrib slightly canaliculate above; secondary_nerves and tertiary_nerves obscure.
Flowers : Flowers unisexual, yellow, axillary or extra axillary, solitary; pedicel 3 cm long.
Fruit& seed : Berry, ovoid or globose, reddish when ripe; seeds 4-6.

Ecology :

Along margin of medium and high elevation evergreen forests.

Distribution :

Indomalaysia and China; in the Western_Ghats- South Sahyadri and Central Sahyadri (Nilgiris).

Literature :

Temminck, Verh. Nat. Gesch. Bot. 3: 115. t. 17. 1840; Gamble, Fl. Madras 1: 78. 1997 (re. ed); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 44. 2004.

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