Botanical Survey of India | Flora of India

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Fissistigma verrucosum (Hook. f. & Thomson) Merr. in Philip. J. Sci. (Bot.) 15: 137. 1919. Melodorom verrucosum Hook. f. & Thomson, Fl. Ind. 119. 1855 & in Fl. Brit. India 1: 80. 1872.


Kh.: jyrmi-soh-ram-khlow.

Large woody climbers; young branches and shoots brown tomentose. Leaves oblong or oblong-lanceolate, rounded or slightly cuneate at base, acute or acuminate and almost bristly at apex, 9 - 13 x 2.5 - 4 cm, thinly coriaceous, glabrous above except the puberulous midrib, softly rusty-pubescent beneath; lateral nerves 15 - 18 pairs, oblique; tertiaries subparallel; petioles 7 - 12 mm long, rusty-pubescent. Flowers pale yellow, sweet- scented, ca 1.5 cm long, solitary or fascicled in few-flowered cymes, leaf-opposed or terminal, tomentose; pedicels 2 - 3 cm long, minutely pubescent; bracts 2, pubescent, basal and median. Sepals 3, broadly ovate, acute, 5 - 6 x 4 - 6 mm, spreading, tomentose outside, glabrous inside. Petals 6 (3 + 3), ovate-lanceolate, subacute, 1.5 - 2 x ca 1 cm, tomentose outside; inner petals shorter, triangular to oblong, acute, concave at base, triquetrous at tip, puberulous. Stamens numerous, ca 2 mm long; connectives broadly and obliquely triangular, apiculate at apex. Carpels many, oblong-ovoid, curved, ca 2 mm long, strigose; style prominent, glabrous; stigma entire. Ripe carpels subglobose, 2 - 4 cm in diam., often with a sharp ventral ridge, densely warted, puberulous; young carpels club-shaped; stalks 2.5 - 15 cm long, stout, thickened upwards; pulp aromatic, edible. Seeds in 2 rows of 3 - 5 each, closely packed, elliptic-oblong, flat, ca 2.5 x 1 cm, dark shiny brown.

Fl. April- July; Fr. Oct. - Jan.

Distrib. India: Subtropical evergreen forests, 1000 - 200 m. Assam, Mizoram and Meghalaya.

Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Notes. Ripe berries are eaten by tribals with much relish.




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