Zanthoxylum tetraspermum Wight & Arn., Prodr. 1: 148. 1834; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 495. 1875; Babu in Bull. Bot. Surv. India 16: 68. 1974 (1977). Fagara tetrasperma (Wight & Arn.) Engl. in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 3(4): 118. 1897.

Climbers, woody; branchlets cylindric, glabrous, very prickly; prickles scattered, hooked, sharp, 2 - 4 mm long, brownish. Leaves 3-foliolate, to imparipinnate, up to 20 cm long; petiole and rachis slightly grooved above, prickly, glabrous; leaflets (3) 5 or 7, Opposite, ovate to elliptic-oblong or obovate, acute or obtuse to rounded and slightly oblique or not at base, abruptly acuminate at apex, acumen 0.5 - 1.5 cm long with a retuse tip, undulate or sinuate-crenate along margins with a prominent pellucid gland in each sinus, 3.5 - 9 x 1.5 - 4.5 cm, coriaceous, glabrous, glossy above, turning blackish or brownish on drying; secondary nerves 10 - 20 pairs, spreading; petiolules very short, 1 4 mm long. Panicles terminal and axillary, often fascicled, 3 - 15 cm long, pubescent to velvety-tomentose. Male flowers: 5 mm long; pedicels 1 - 2 mm long, pubescent. Sepals 4, ovate-triangular, acute, connate at base, subentire along margins 0.8 1 mm long. Petals 4, ovate-elliptic, obtuse, ca 2 mm long. Stamens 4; filaments linear, 3.5 mm long; anthers 0.5 - 1 mm long, connective often gland tipped. Disk pulvinate ca 1 mm high. Pistillodes 4, with subulate short (1 mm long) styles. Female flowers: Pedicels, sepals, petals and disk as in male flowers. Ovary 4-carpellate, ovoid-subglobose, 1.5 mm long; style very short; stigma peltate. Fruiting pedicels 1 - 4 mm long. Follicles 1 - 4 with 0, 1, or 3 persistent abortive carpels. Seeds ca 5 mm across, black, smooth.

Fl. June - Sept.; Fr. Oct.- Dec.

Distrib. India: Evergreen or semievergreen forests of southern W. Ghats, up to 2000 maltitude. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Sri Lanka.

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