1223

 Tiliacora acuminata (Lam.) Hook.f. &Thoms.

Synonym	:	Tiliacora racemosa Colebr.
Family	:	Menispermaceae
Local name	:	Malayalam-Vallikanjiram
Flowering and fruiting period	:	April-December
Distribution	:	India, Sri Lanka and South East Asia
Distribution in Kerala	:	Kozhikkode, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Kollam,
Habitat	:	Moist deciduous forests and also sacred groves in the plains
Key botanical characters: Climbing shrubs; stems striate, sparsely puberulous or glabrous. Leaves alternate, ovate or lanceolate, truncate, cordate, rarely acute at base, acuminate at apex, 8-14 x 3.5- 8 cm, chartaceous, glabrous, 3-5 nerved at base; petioles 1.5-3 cm long, sulcate, glabrous. Inflorescences axillary, panicled, 3.5-10 cm long, pubescent. Male flowers 2-7 at apex of inflorescence, yellow; sepals 6 in 2 rows; inner ones broadly elliptic, glabrous; petals 6, obovate, glabrous; stamens 6, cylindric. Female flower solitary; sepals and petals as in male ones; carpels 8-12, glabrous, on stalked puberulous gynophore. Drupes on branched carpophores, oblong to obovoid, 10-15 x 6-7 mm, glabrous, red when ripe; endocarp reticulate.