1473

 

Putranjiva roxburghii Wall.

Synonym	:	Cyclostemon racemosus Zipp. ex Span.
Family	:	Putranjivaceae
Local name	:	English - Drypetes, Wild Olive Malayalam-  Poothilanji
Flowering and fruiting period	:	March-August
Distribution	:	Indo-Malesia
Distribution in Kerala	:	Palakkad, Alappuzha, Idukki, Malappuram, Thrissur
Habitat	:	Moist and dry deciduous forests, also in sacred groves
Uses	:	A decoction of leaves and fruit is taken for the treatment of liver complaints, colds, fevers and rheumatism. The hard, white seeds of the fruit are threaded into necklaces and also used for rosarie.
Key botanical characters:  Trees, , bark dark grey, whitish when young with horizontal lenticels; branches generally pendent; branchlets terete, brown or blackish, slender, pubescent. Leaves simple, alternate; stipule small, coriaceous; lateral nerves 8-12 pairs, pinnate, slender, ascending, prominent, intercostae reticulate, slender, prominent. Flowers unisexual, small, yellow; male flowers: sessile, in axillary spikes,  long, glabrous; tepals 3-5, oblong, puberulous without, ciliate, obtuse, imbricate; stamens 2-4, filaments thick, more or less connate towards base; anthers ovate, hairy; female flowers: solitary or in 2 or 3, axillary; pedicel upto 15 mm long, puberulous; bracts lanceolate;  puberulous without, ciliate, acute; ovary superior,  globose, tomentose, 3-celled,  broad fleshy stigma; stigma crescent-shaped, glandular. Fruit a drupe, 1.3-2 x 1.5 cm, ovoid-ellipsoid, white tomentose; seed one, crustaceous; pedicels 6-25 mm long.