Scolopia crenata
(Wight) Clos in Ann. Sci. Nat. 4, 8: 250. 1857, excl. specimen. Philippin.; Hook. f. & Thomson in Fl. Brit. India 1: 191. 1872, p.p. excl. syn. S. acuminata, S. chinensis & S. crassipes et specim. China, Ceylon & Philippine S. crenata var. brevifolia N. Mukherjee in J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 69: 394. 1973. Phoberos crenatus Wight in Wight & Arn., Prodr. 29. 1834.
Kan.: Kodali-mara; Kon.: Laban-kavanthi; Mal.: Caralu, Sarelmaram; Tam.:
Charalu, Kodali, Terunai.
Trees 5 - 20 m tall; bark smooth, grey, rough and pustullar by raised lenticels; trunk, young stem and branches with simple or branched spines up to 3 cm long; branches of older trees unarmed; branchlets 4-angled when young, terete in age. Leaves variable, ovate, ovate-lanceolate, elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, cuneate, attenuate, or even obtuse and usually inequilateral at base, obtusely short or subobtusely long acuminate at apex, coarsely serrato-crenate to crenato-repand, or even subentire, 5 - 15 x 2.5 -7.5 cm, dark green and glossy above, paler beneath, glabrous; secondary veins 5 - 8 pairs; petioles 6 - 12 mm long, minutely biglandular at junction of lamina. Flowers 7 - 8 mm across, white to yellowish white, fragrant, in lax puberulous simple racemes or paniculate cymes, 2.5 - 10 cm long; pedicels 5 - 12 mm long, grey puberulous; bracts caducous. Sepals 5, ovate-oblong or elliptic-oblong, obtuse and ciliolate along margin, ca 2.5 mm long, puberulent to subglabrous outside. Petals similar to sepals, but narrowly oblong to obovate, ca 2.5 mm long. Receptacles pubescent; disc glands absent. Stamens 60 - 100; anther connectives glabrous. Ovary glabrous; style ca 6 mm long. Berry subglobose apiculate by stylar base, 1.5 - 1.7 cm across, shiny green. Seeds 2 - 8, semilunar.
Fl. (Feb.-) March - May(-July); Fr. ripens from July - Oct.
Distrib. India: Moist deciduous and evergreen forests in Western Ghats up to 1800 m. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Endemic.
Notes. Though no collection of S. crenata from Andamans could be examined, the description of the plants ('Leaves ... ovate or ovate-oblong, acute, ... glands at the insertion of the petiole, ... glandular-crenate to almost entire, ... stamens ... with yellow glands outside them ... ') recorded as S. crenata (C. E. Parkinson, For. Fl. Andaman Is. 84. 1923) and their distribution strongly suggest it to belong to S. kermodii.
Trees 5 - 20 m tall; bark smooth, grey, rough and pustullar by raised lenticels; trunk, young stem and branches with simple or branched spines up to 3 cm long; branches of older trees unarmed; branchlets 4-angled when young, terete in age. Leaves variable, ovate, ovate-lanceolate, elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, cuneate, attenuate, or even obtuse and usually inequilateral at base, obtusely short or subobtusely long acuminate at apex, coarsely serrato-crenate to crenato-repand, or even subentire, 5 - 15 x 2.5 -7.5 cm, dark green and glossy above, paler beneath, glabrous; secondary veins 5 - 8 pairs; petioles 6 - 12 mm long, minutely biglandular at junction of lamina. Flowers 7 - 8 mm across, white to yellowish white, fragrant, in lax puberulous simple racemes or paniculate cymes, 2.5 - 10 cm long; pedicels 5 - 12 mm long, grey puberulous; bracts caducous. Sepals 5, ovate-oblong or elliptic-oblong, obtuse and ciliolate along margin, ca 2.5 mm long, puberulent to subglabrous outside. Petals similar to sepals, but narrowly oblong to obovate, ca 2.5 mm long. Receptacles pubescent; disc glands absent. Stamens 60 - 100; anther connectives glabrous. Ovary glabrous; style ca 6 mm long. Berry subglobose apiculate by stylar base, 1.5 - 1.7 cm across, shiny green. Seeds 2 - 8, semilunar.
Fl. (Feb.-) March - May(-July); Fr. ripens from July - Oct.
Distrib. India: Moist deciduous and evergreen forests in Western Ghats up to 1800 m. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Endemic.
Notes. Though no collection of S. crenata from Andamans could be examined, the description of the plants ('Leaves ... ovate or ovate-oblong, acute, ... glands at the insertion of the petiole, ... glandular-crenate to almost entire, ... stamens ... with yellow glands outside them ... ') recorded as S. crenata (C. E. Parkinson, For. Fl. Andaman Is. 84. 1923) and their distribution strongly suggest it to belong to S. kermodii.
