1482

 

Tetrameles nudiflora R. Br.

Synonym	:	Tetrameles grahamiana (Nimmo) Wight
Family	:	Tetramelaceae
Flowering and fruiting period	:	March-May
Distribution	:	Paleotropics
Distribution in Kerala	:	All districts
Habitat	:	Evergreen, semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forests, also in the plains
Uses		The wood is light brown-grey with no distinction between heartwood or sapwood. Although it is available in large dimensions, is of an inferior quality. It is suitable for temporary buildings, wooden boxes. Traditionally it is used for making canoes. The canoes are rubbed in oil and, when used in salt water, can last 8 - 10 years.
Key botanical characters: Deciduous dioecious trees, to 45 m high, bole buttressed; bark 10 mm thick, greyish-white, smooth, tuberculate-lenticellate; blaze dull yellow. Leaves simple, alternate, exstipulate, crowded at the apex of branchlets; petiole 5-15 cm long, slender, tomentose; lamina 7.5-20 x 5-12 cm, orbicular-ovate or broadly ovate, base cordate, apex acute-acuminate, margin glandular-serrate, coriaceous, glabrous above, densely tomentose beneath; nerves 3-5 from base, palmate, prominent, lateral nerves 4-9 pairs, pinnate, prominent, intercostae scalariform, prominent. Flowers unisexual, yellowish-green; female flowers sessile, in spicate pendulous panicles; male flowers subsessile, in pubescent panicles; male flowers: 4 mm across, calyx tube very short; lobes 4, ovate, united at base; petals absent; stamens 4, opposite the calyx lobes, inserted around a flat central disc; pistillode rudimentary; female flowers: 4 x 3 mm; calyx connate with the ovary, 4-gonous; lobes 4, short; petals absent; staminodes absent; ovary inferior, 1-celled, ovules numerous on 4 parietal placentae; styles 4, subulate; stigmas club shaped. Fruit a capsule, 5-6 mm long, urceolate, faintly 8-ribbed, glandular, crowned by persistent calyx segments, opening at top; seeds minute, brown.