1032

 Casearia ovata (Lam.) Willd

Synonym	:	Guidonia ovata (Lam.) Baill.
Family	:	FLACOURTIACEAE.
Local name	:	Malayalam- ..Malampavatta .
Flowering and fruiting period	:	January-May
Distribution	:	India and Sri Lanka
Distribution in kerala	:	Palakkad, Idukki, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Kannu
Habitat	:	Evergreen, semi-evergreen and shola forests
Key Botanical Characters. Trees, to 10 m, bark grey, mottled with green; young shoots glabrous. Leaves simple, alternate, distichous, 7-16 x 4-7 cm, elliptic-oblong, elliptic-obovate, elliptic-ovate, obovate or ovate, apex acuminate, base acute or rounded, margin entire or distantly serrate; petiole 6-20 mm, slender, glabrous, slightly grooved above, glabrous, chartaceous; midrib red, pellucid gland dotted; lateral veins 6-8 pairs, pinnate, prominent, intercostae reticulate, faint; stipules small, scale-like, , lateral, cauducous. Flowers small, bisexual, greenish, in axillary fascicles. Ccalyx 4-5 lobed, glabrous. Petals absent. Stamens 8-10, united into a short tube with alternating staminodes, forming a ring attached below to the calyx tube, tufted at their apex. Ovary ovoid, 1-celled; style simple. Fruit a succulent capsule to 1.5 cm long, orange yellow; seeds many.