Vitex leucoxylon L.f. - VERBENACEAE

Synonym : Wallrothia leucoxylon (L.f.) Roth

Vernacular names : Tamil: Nir-noochiMalayalam: Attunochi, NeernochiKannada: Sengeni, Holenekki

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literature

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Deciduous trees, up to 15 m tall.
Trunk\bark : Bark brwonish, smooth; blaze yellowish.
Branchlets : Young branchlets quadrangular, minutely pubescent, lenticellate.
Leaves : Leaves compound, digitate or rarely trifoliate, opposite, decussate; rachis pulvinate, planoconvex in cross section, minutely pubescent; petiolule 0.5-1.5 cm long, canaliculate, glabrous; leaflets 5 (rarely 3), lamina 7-11.5 x 2-3.5 cm, elliptic, apex acute to obtuse, base cuneate - attenuate, margin entire, chartaceous or thinly coriaceous, glaucous beneath, glabrous; midrib canaliculate above; secondary_nerves 6-14 pairs; tertiary_nerves reticulo-percurrent, not prominent.
Flowers : Inflorescence axillary corymbose cymes, minutely pubescent; flowers zygomorphic, sessile; corolla white with purplish pubescent; anther lobes purple.
Fruit& seed : Drupe, smooth, obovoid, purplish black; seeds 4.

Ecology :

Along streams up to 900 m.

Distribution :

Peninsular India and Sri Lanka; in the Western_Ghats- throughout.

Literature :

Suppl. Pl. 294. 1781; Gamble, Fl. Madras 2: 1103. 1993 (re.ed.); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 363. 2004; Cook, Fl. Bombay 2: 430.1908; Almeida, Fl. Maharashtra 4:134. 2003.

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