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.




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