1153

 Vepris bilocularis (Wight & Arn.)Engl.

 

Synonym	:	Toddalia bilocularis Wight & Arn.
Family	:	RUTACEAE
Local name	:	Malayalam- Moothassari
Flowering and fruiting period	:	February-May
Distribution	:	Southern Western Ghats
Distribution in kerala	:	Palakkad, Kollam, Idukki, Pathanamthitta, Malappuram, Thiruvan
Habitat	:	Semi-evergreen forests
IUCN Status	:	Endemic to southern westernGhats
Uses	:	wood used in eye and ear diseases
Key Botanical Characters: Evergreen dioecious trees, to 25 m high, bark 4-6 mm thick, surface yellowish-grey, brittle; blaze dull yellow. Leaves trifoliate, alternate, estipulate; rachis 2-10 cm long, slender, swollen at base, grooved above, glabrous, lamina 7-25 x 3-10 cm, elliptic, oblong, elliptic-oblanceolate, elliptic-oblong or elliptic-obovate, base acute, cuneate or rarely oblique, apex acuminate, margin entire, revolute, glabrous, pellucid-gland dotted, coriaceous; lateral nerves parallel, close, intramarginal nerve present, slender, prominent, intercostae reticulate, prominent. Flowers unisexual, 5-6 mm across, yellow, in axillary and terminal panicles; male flowers: calyx small, saucer-shaped, 2-3 lobed; petals 2-4, free, orbicular, glandular, glabrous, imbricate; stamens 6, inserted under the disc, exserted, equal; filaments broad at base; anthers ovate; pistillodes cylindric, 2-cleft above, glabrous; female flowers: sepals and petals as in male flowers; staminodes rudimentary; ovary superior, globose, 2-4-celled, ovules 2 in each cell; stigma capitate. Fruit a berry, globose, 2-celled, fleshy, glandular; seeds 2, planoconvex, brownish.