Botanical Survey of India | Flora of India

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Michelia cathcartii Hook. f. & Thomson, Fl. Ind. 79. 1855 & in Fl. Brit. India 1: 42. 1872. Alcimandra cathcartii (Hook. f. & Thomson) Dandy in Bull. Misc. Inf. Kew 1927: 260. 1927.


Kh.: Dieng-rai; Nep.: Tite-champ.

Evergreen trees; bark dark grey; branches rusty tomentose when young. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, cuneate or narrowly rounded at base, acute to acuminate at apex, 9 - 13 x 4 - 5 cm, chartaceous, shiny, glabrous above, pilose on midrib beneath; lateral nerves 10 - 15 pairs, slender, not conspicuous; petioles slender, up to 1 cm long, densely yellow hairy; stipules 1.5 - 2 cm long, densely silky hairy. Flowers terminal, creamy-white, reddish when dry, 7 - 10 cm across, fragrant; buds oblong, rounded at both ends; pedicels stout, ca 2 cm long. Perianth parts 9, outer ones obovoid, ca 4.5 x 1.5 cm, inner ones narrow. Stamens ca 40 or more; anthers up to 3 cm long; filaments short; connective produced into a spathulate ca 3 mm long appendage. Gynoecium stipitate, ca 7 mm long; carpels sessile, densely imbricate when young, ca 30 on a cylindrical column, ovoid, ca 3 x 2.5 mm; stigma recurved. Fruiting receptacles 7 - 10 cm long; ripe carpels ovoid, suborbicular, compressed, ca 1 cm across, dehiscing by dorsal suture. Seeds 2 - 3.

Fl. & Fr. March - Aug.

Distrib. India: E. Himalayas and N.E. regions, evergreen oak forests, 1500 - 2200 m. West Bengal, Sikkim, Nagaland and Meghalaya.

Myanmar and Vietnam.

Notes. Timber is useful for house building.




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