Botanical Survey of India | Flora of India

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Bhesa Ham. ex Arn.


Trees. Leaves simple, spirally arranged; coriaceous, entire; midrib and nerves prominent; petioles thickened; stipules convolute in bud, caducous. Flowers bisexual, in panicled spikes or racemes, solitary or paired. Sepals 5-lobed. Petals 5, contorted. Stamens 5, inserted on the disc or just beneath the outer margin; anthers basifixed, obtuse or apiculate. Ovary free, crowned with tuft of hairs at the top, 2-locular; styles 2, filiform, free or united at the base only; ovules 2 in each locule. Disc fleshy, subentire or lobed, glabrous or puberulous. Fruits a capsule, entire or 2-lobed. Seeds 1-2, covered with fleshy aril.

Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Malesia; 5 species, 3 in India.

Literature. DING HOU (1958) in Blumea Suppl. 4: 149-153. DING HOU (1962) in Fl. Males. 6(2): 280.



KEY TO THE SPECIES


1a. Flowers in simple racemes 3. Bhesa robusta
b. Flowers in panicled spikes or racemes 2
2a. Disc deeply 5-lobed; ovary with tuft of hairs on top 2. Bhesa paniculata
b. Disc entire; ovary glabrous 1. Bhesa indica


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