Drypetes malabarica
(Bedd.) Airy Shaw in Kew Bull. 23: 56. 1969; Chakrab. et al. in J.
Econ. Taxon. Bot. 21: 269. 1997; R. Gopalan in J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 23: 682, f. 1. 1999. Cyclostemon
malabaricus Bedd., Forester's Man. 199. 1873 & Icon. Pl. Ind. Or. 41, t. 183. 1874; Hook.f., Fl.
Brit. India 5: 341. 1887; Gamble, Fl. Madras 2(7): 1302. 1925 (repr. ed. 2: 911. 1957).
Mal.: Kaduvapudukkan, Kalladamba; Tam.: Vella-elumbu.
Trees, 10 – 15 m tall; branchlets densely pubescent. Leaves narrowly oblong, unequal at base, entire along margins, acuminate at apex, 10 - 25 x 6 - 8 cm, coriaceous, glabrous or pubescent on midrib above, pilose on nerves beneath; midrib flat above, raised beneath; lateral nerves 6 - 10 pairs; petioles 5 - 8 mm long, villous; stipules linear, ca 1 cm long. Inflorescences cauliflorous; flowers in clusters. Male flowers: pedicels ca 5 mm long; sepals 4, suborbicular, 4 - 5 x 3.5 - 4 mm, villous; stamens 30 - 40, 5 - 7 mm long; anthers oblong, ca 1.5 mm long; disc discoid. Female flowers: pedicels up to 2 cm long; sepals as in male flowers; ovary 2-loculed; styles 2, very short or absent; stigmas 2, dilated, reniform or ellipsoid. Fruits subglobose to oblong-ovoid, 2 - 2.5 cm in diam., 2-loculed, thick-walled, tomentellous; persistent stigmas 2, reniform; pedicels 10 - 12 mm long.
Fl. & Fr. Aug. – June.
Distrib. India: Evergreen forests of southern Western Ghats, at 900 - 1500 m altitude, very rare. Kerala and Tamil Nadu (Tirunelveli District).
Endemic.
Notes. This species is very closely related to D. longifolia but distinct in the more persistent indumentum and midrib not impressed on the upper surface of the leaves. The type specimens collected by Beddome s. n. (CAL, K) do not have female flowers. Gopalan (l. c. 1999) collected the species from Kannikatty (Tirunelveli Dist. of Tamil Nadu) in 1984 and provided the description of the female flowers.
Pollen 3-colporate, sexine micro-reticulate to reticulate. P = 35 μm (25 to 40), E = 35 μm (24 to 35). (Tissot, Chikki & Nayar, Pollen of Wet Evergreen Forests of Western Ghats, India. Publ. du depart. D’ecologie, Inst. Francias de Pondichery, Pondicherry).
Trees, 10 – 15 m tall; branchlets densely pubescent. Leaves narrowly oblong, unequal at base, entire along margins, acuminate at apex, 10 - 25 x 6 - 8 cm, coriaceous, glabrous or pubescent on midrib above, pilose on nerves beneath; midrib flat above, raised beneath; lateral nerves 6 - 10 pairs; petioles 5 - 8 mm long, villous; stipules linear, ca 1 cm long. Inflorescences cauliflorous; flowers in clusters. Male flowers: pedicels ca 5 mm long; sepals 4, suborbicular, 4 - 5 x 3.5 - 4 mm, villous; stamens 30 - 40, 5 - 7 mm long; anthers oblong, ca 1.5 mm long; disc discoid. Female flowers: pedicels up to 2 cm long; sepals as in male flowers; ovary 2-loculed; styles 2, very short or absent; stigmas 2, dilated, reniform or ellipsoid. Fruits subglobose to oblong-ovoid, 2 - 2.5 cm in diam., 2-loculed, thick-walled, tomentellous; persistent stigmas 2, reniform; pedicels 10 - 12 mm long.
Fl. & Fr. Aug. – June.
Distrib. India: Evergreen forests of southern Western Ghats, at 900 - 1500 m altitude, very rare. Kerala and Tamil Nadu (Tirunelveli District).
Endemic.
Notes. This species is very closely related to D. longifolia but distinct in the more persistent indumentum and midrib not impressed on the upper surface of the leaves. The type specimens collected by Beddome s. n. (CAL, K) do not have female flowers. Gopalan (l. c. 1999) collected the species from Kannikatty (Tirunelveli Dist. of Tamil Nadu) in 1984 and provided the description of the female flowers.
Pollen 3-colporate, sexine micro-reticulate to reticulate. P = 35 μm (25 to 40), E = 35 μm (24 to 35). (Tissot, Chikki & Nayar, Pollen of Wet Evergreen Forests of Western Ghats, India. Publ. du depart. D’ecologie, Inst. Francias de Pondichery, Pondicherry).
