Excoecaria crenulata
Wight, Icon. Pl. Ind. Orient. 5(2): 20, t. 1865. 1852; Hook.f., Fl. Brit.
India 5: 473. 1888; Gamble, Fl. Madras 2(7): 1345. 1925 (repr. ed. 2: 941. 1957). E. robusta Hook.f.,
l. c. 474. 1888. E. oppositifolia Griff. var. crenulata (Wight) Chakrab. & M.Gangop. in J. Econ.
Taxon. Bot. 18: 208. 1994, p. p. (excl. syn. E. bantamensis Müll.Arg., E. macrophylla J.J.Sm. et E.
borneensis Pax & K.Hoffm.). E. oppositifolia sensu Thwaites, Enum. Pl. Zeyl. 269. 1861, non
Griff., 1844.
Tam.: Paalmaram, Tillai.
Shrubs or trees, 1 - 7 (-10) m tall; latex milky, copious, poisonous; branchlets flattened or sometimes tetragonous, glabrous. Leaves opposite, elliptic, obovate to oblanceolate or oblonglanceolate, acute or obliquely rounded at base, entire or sparsely sinuate-crenate or serrate along margins, shortly acuminate at apex, (6 - ) 10 - 25 x 2.5 - 5 cm, coriaceous to chartaceous, waxy, shiny green; lateral nerves 10 - 18 pairs; petioles (0.5 - ) 1 - 2 cm long; stipules subulate, ca 3 mm long. Male inflorescences axillary and terminal, spicate, 3.5 – 8 cm long; bracts broadly ovate, ca 1.5 x 1 mm, erose; bracteoles enclosing the flowers in bud. Flowers: sessile; sepals 3, oblong to ovate, ca 1 x 0.6 mm, irregularly toothed; stamens 3, ca 1.2 mm long. Female inflorescences axillary or terminal, solitary or spicate (up to 3 cm long) with up to 3 flowers. Flowers: pedicels 1 – 3 mm long; sepals 3, broadly ovate, ca 2 mm long, erose; ovary subglobose, ca 2 mm in diam.; styles stout, ca 5 mm long, persistent, recurved. Fruits depressed, subglobose, shallowly 3-lobed, 1 - 3 cm across; seeds broadly ovoid, mottled.
Fl. March - July; Fr. Aug. - Sept.
Distrib. India: Wet deciduous forests or shola forests in Western Ghats, along streams, up to 2100 m altitude. Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Sri Lanka.
Notes. Pollen 3-colporate, sexine reticulate. P = 41 μm (35 to 46), E = 34 μm (28 to 37). (Tissot, Chikki & Nayar, Pollen of Wet Evergreen Forests of Western Ghats, India. Publ. du depart. D’ecologie, Inst. Francias de Pondichery, Pondicherry).
Shrubs or trees, 1 - 7 (-10) m tall; latex milky, copious, poisonous; branchlets flattened or sometimes tetragonous, glabrous. Leaves opposite, elliptic, obovate to oblanceolate or oblonglanceolate, acute or obliquely rounded at base, entire or sparsely sinuate-crenate or serrate along margins, shortly acuminate at apex, (6 - ) 10 - 25 x 2.5 - 5 cm, coriaceous to chartaceous, waxy, shiny green; lateral nerves 10 - 18 pairs; petioles (0.5 - ) 1 - 2 cm long; stipules subulate, ca 3 mm long. Male inflorescences axillary and terminal, spicate, 3.5 – 8 cm long; bracts broadly ovate, ca 1.5 x 1 mm, erose; bracteoles enclosing the flowers in bud. Flowers: sessile; sepals 3, oblong to ovate, ca 1 x 0.6 mm, irregularly toothed; stamens 3, ca 1.2 mm long. Female inflorescences axillary or terminal, solitary or spicate (up to 3 cm long) with up to 3 flowers. Flowers: pedicels 1 – 3 mm long; sepals 3, broadly ovate, ca 2 mm long, erose; ovary subglobose, ca 2 mm in diam.; styles stout, ca 5 mm long, persistent, recurved. Fruits depressed, subglobose, shallowly 3-lobed, 1 - 3 cm across; seeds broadly ovoid, mottled.
Fl. March - July; Fr. Aug. - Sept.
Distrib. India: Wet deciduous forests or shola forests in Western Ghats, along streams, up to 2100 m altitude. Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Sri Lanka.
Notes. Pollen 3-colporate, sexine reticulate. P = 41 μm (35 to 46), E = 34 μm (28 to 37). (Tissot, Chikki & Nayar, Pollen of Wet Evergreen Forests of Western Ghats, India. Publ. du depart. D’ecologie, Inst. Francias de Pondichery, Pondicherry).
