1268

 Bentinckia condapanna Berry & Roxb.

Family	:	Arecaceae
Local name	:	English-Hill Arecanut Malayalam-Kantha-kamugu
Flowering and fruiting period	:	Throughout the year
Distribution	:	Southern Western Ghats
Distribution in kerala	:	Pathanamthitta, Idukki, Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram
Habitat	:	Shola forests and along rock cuttings in grasslands
IUCN Status	:	Vulnerable
Key botanical characters :   Monoecious palms to 20 m tall; stem 20 cm thick, annulate, caudex 2-3 m across. Leaves pinnately compound; leaflets 50-70 x 3-5 cm, linear-lanceolate, evenly scattered, sessile; petiole 30-60 cm long, sheath rounded, 55 cm long, 26 cm broad, encircling the stem. Spadix axillary, below the leaves, branched, 30-50 cm across; spathes many. Male flowers small or sunken in the spirally arranged pits towards the tips of branches; perianth lobes 6, biseriate, outer smaller, 5 mm across, orbicular, inner longer; stamens 6, free. Female flowers larger, towards the base of the branches of spadix; ovary 3-celled, 1 cell larger with an ovule. Fruit subglobose, 1.2 x 0.9 cm, dark, pink.