490
Anamirta cocculus (L.) Wight & Arn.
Synonym
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Anamirta
baueriana
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Family
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Menispermaceae
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Local name
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English - Levant berries, Fish berries, Crow killer
Malyalam - Nanchuvalli, Pechuvalli
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Flowering and fruiting period
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August-December
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Distribution
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Indo-Malesia
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Distribution in Kerala
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All Districts
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Habitat
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Moist deciduous and
evergreen forests, also sacred groves in the plains
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Uses
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It is used to treat
fevers, dyspepsia and menstrual problems. The leaves are used as a poultice
for headache.
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Key
Botanical Characters:
Woody climbers. Leaves simple, alternate, broadly
ovate, apex acute, base truncate, margin entire; 5-ribbed, coriaceous;
petiole 8-13 cm long. Flowers unisexual, many, in large drooping panicles on
old branches. Sepals 6 in 2 rows, 3 x 2 mm, ovate, yellow. Petals absent.
Stamens 9, combined into a globose staminal column, anthers sessile;
staminodes 9 in female flowers, obovate, scaly. Carpels 3, free; style
absent; stigma recurved. Fruit of 1-3 drupes, obliquely ovoid, gibbous,
black, smooth; seeds 1, black, glabrous.
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