1454

 

Meliosma pinnata (Roxb.) Maxim.

Synonym	:	Millingtonia pinnata Roxb.
Family	:	Sabiaceae
Local name	:	Malayalam-Kalavi,Kalyavi
Flowering and fruiting period	:	March-June
Distribution	:	Indo-Malesia and China
Distribution in Kerala	:	Idukki, Kollam, Kannur, Thrissur, Palakkad, Pathanamthitta, Thiruvananthapuram, Wayanad
Habitat	:	Shola and evergreen forests
Uses	:	The wood is traditionally used for boards in house building. The wood of subspecies arnottiana is white in colour; the heartwood in older trees is striped reddish and white. It is light in weight, soft, fibrous, easily split, white, with large pores and a beautiful grain, with prominent rays. The wood of subspecies macrophylla is white to pale pink or brown; when present, the heartwood is somewhat darker than the sapwood. The wood is very light in weight, soft.  Wood of subspecies humilis is white to light brown, with conspicuous rays and clear growth rings, said to be of moderate weight and hardness. It is used as housing timber, and is said to be free from borers.
Key botanical characters: Trees, to 18 m high, bark 10-15 mm thick, surface greyish-brown, mottled with white; blaze creamy pink, turning to orange yellow, interspersed with lighter rays, inner bark succulent, innermost layers fibrous; branchlets brown villous, prominently lenticellate. Leaves imparipinnate, pinnate, alternate, estipulate; rachis 6.5-18 cm long, stout, rusty pubescent; leaflets 9-15, opposite or subopposite; petiolule 4-10 mm, slender, rusty tomentose; lamina 3.5-12.5 x 1.5-4 cm, oblong, oblong-lanceolate, elliptic-oblong or elliptic-ovate; base obtuse, round or oblique, apex acuminate or acute, margin entire, glabrous above, rusty tomentose beneath, coriaceous; lateral nerves 3-15 pairs, pinnate, ascending, prominent, intercostae reticulate, domatia often present. Flowers bisexual, yellowish-white in large terminal and axillary tomentose panicles; bracteoles sepaloid; sepals 5, basally connate, triangular, ciliate; petals 3+2; inner ones 2-fid; outer 3 suborbicular, unequal; fertile stamens 2; filaments 1.5 mm; staminodes 3, scaly, to 1 mm; ovary superior, tomentose, 2-celled, ovule 2 in each cell; style terminal, stigma simple. Fruit a drupe, 5-6 mm across, globose.