Polyalthia Blume

Trees or shrubs. Leaves glabrous or pubescent with simple hairs. Flowers bisexual, solitary or few together, axillary, pubescent, pedicellate. Sepals 3, valvate. Petals 6 (3 + 3), valvate, subequal, variously shaped, flat, spreading. Stamens numerous, cuneate; connectives produced. Carpels indefinite, oblong, cylindrical or angled, with 1 or 2 ovules, sometimes up to 5, basal or subbasal; styles almost absent. Ripe carpels few to many, berries, stalked, rarely subsessile. Seeds 1 - 5.

Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indo-china, Malesia, Australia and New Zealand; 120 species, 14 species in India.

KEY TO THE SPECIES

1a. Petals up to 1.5 cm long

2

b. Petals more than 1.5 cm long

8

2a. Petals equal in 2 series

3

b. Petall unequal in 2 series, outer shorter than the inner

4

3a. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, pubescent beneath; flowers solitaty or 2 - 3 together; petals oblong-ovate, acute

2. Polyalthia cerasoides

b. Leaves oblong, glabrous and glaucous beneath; flowers many in dense fascicles on leafless branches; petals oblong, obtuse

11. Polyalthia parkinsonii

4a. pedicels up to 1 cm long; petals thick, fleshy

5

b. Pedicels 1.5 - 3 cm long; petals thickly coriaceous

6

5a. Bracts at the base of pedicels; all outer petals equal, ca 10 mm long, slightly smaller than inner ones; stigma capitate

4. Polyalthia crassa

b. Bracts at the middle of pcdicels; outer petals equal or unequal, ca 3 mm long or rarely one or two larger, ca 12 mm long; stigma discoid

10. Polyalthia meghalayensis

6a. Leaves obtuse; flowers extra-axillary

14. Polyalthia suberosa

b. Leaves acute to acuminate; flowers axillary

7

7a. Leaves elliptic-oblong, strongly reticulate-veined; petals oblong, pubescent outside

7. Polyalthia korintii

b. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, faintly reticulate-veined; petals oblong-ovate, brown tomentose outside

12. Polyalthia rufescens

8a. Petals 1 - 2 cm wide

9

b. Petals less than 1 cm wide, rarely up to 1.2 cm wide

10

9a. Leaves 10 - 20 cm long; flowers solitaty or rarely in pairs; ripe carpels linear-oblong, ca 1.5 cm long

6. Polyalthia Jenkinsii

b. Leaves 25 - 40 cm long; flowers in fascicles; ripe carpels ovoid-ellipsoid, 2.5 - 3.5 cm long

8. Polyalthia lateriflora

10a. Trees with conical crown; branches and leaves pendulous; leaf-margins strongly undulate; sepals 1 - 2 mm long; petals up to 2 mm wide

9. Polyalthia longifolia

b. Trees with subglobose crown; branches and leaves not pendulous; leaf-margins not or rarely slightly undulate; sepals 2 - 5 mm long; petals broader, 2 - 12 mm wide

11

11a. Petals strap-shaped, 10 - 12 mm wide; ripe carpels up to 1.2 cm long, often 2-seeded and constricted between seeds

1. Polyalthia cauliflora

b. Petals linear to oblong-lanceolate, up to 8 mm wide; ripe carpels 1.5 - 5 cm long, 1-seeded

12

12a. Leaves slightly undulate along margins; petals oblong-lanceolate, 5 - 8 mm wide; ripe carpels 2 - 3 cm long with up to 1.5 cm long stalks

3. Polyalthia coffeoides

b. Leaves not undulate along margins; petals linear-lanceolate, 2 - 4 mm wide; ripe carpels 2.5 - 5 cm long with 2 - 5 cm long stalks

13

13a. Flowers in peduncled or branched cymes; petals rufous-tomentose

5. Polyalthia fragrans

b. Flowers in sessile fascicles; petals puberulous

13. Polyalthia simiarum

List of Lower Taxa