1395

Drypetes venusta (Wight) Pax&K.Hoffm.

Synonym	:	Astylis venusta Wight
Family	:	Putranjivaceae
Local name	:	Malayalam-  Enikomban,Velleipuli
Flowering and fruiting period	:	November-July
Distribution	:	Southern Western Ghats
Distribution in Kerala	:	Palakkad, Idukki, Malappuram, Kannur, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Thrissur, Wayanad
Habitat	:	Evergreen and semi-evergreen forests
Endemic/Exotic	:	Endemic to Southern western ghats
Key botanical characters   : Deciduous trees, to 30 m high, bole fluted, bark greyish-white, smooth, thin; branchlets 1-5 mm thick, slender, drooping, glabrous. Leaves simple, alternate; stipules small, lateral, caducous; petiole 3-20 mm long, slender, grooved above, glabrous; lamina 6-15 x 2-6.4 cm, elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate or elliptic-oblong, base oblique, acute, apex obtusely acute, obtusely acuminate or acute, margin entire, glabrous, coriaceous; lateral nerves 7-15 pairs, pinnate, slender, prominent, intercostae reticulate, prominent. Flowers unisexual, greenish-yellow, 5-8 mm across; male flowers: 3-6 in axillary clusters; pedicel 5-8 mm long, minutely hispid; tepals 4, 4 x 2 mm, oblong, obtuse, hispid outside; stamens 6-10; filaments 3 mm long, free, glabrous; anthers oblong; disc lobulate, villous; female flowers: solitary or in pairs, axillary; pedicel minutely hispid; tepals 4, 4 x 2 mm, oblong, obtuse, hispid outside; ovary ovoid, 1-celled; stigma mushroom shaped; ovules 2, pendulous. Fruit a drupe, obovoid, 1.5-2.5 cm long, greenish-yellow, drooping; seed solitary, covered with pulpy mucilage.