761

Ficus auriculata Lour.

Synonym	:	Myrobalanus laurinoides (Teijsm. & Binn.) Kuntze
Family	:	Combretaceae
Local name	:	English-Bedda nut tree Malayalam-Thanni
Flowering and fruiting period	:	December-January
Distribution	:	Indo-Malesia
Distribution in kerala	:	All Districts
Habitat	:	Semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forests, also in the plains
Uses	:	Medicinal
Key botanical characters: Deciduous trees, to 35 m high, bole often buttressed; bark 10-20 mm thick, surface blackish-grey, smooth, vertically shallowly fissured, exfoliations small, semi-fibrous; branches sympodial; branchlets terete, thinly fulvous-hairy, leaf scars prominent. Leaves simple, opposite or alternate, clustered at the tip of branchlets,  obovate, elliptic or obovate-elliptic, apex obtusely acuminate, base obliquely cuneate, attenuate or acute, margin entire, both surface pubescent when young, glabrous at maturity, coriaceous, eglandular; petiole stout, slightly grooved above, glabrous; lateral nerves 7-10 pairs, pinnate, prominent; intercostae reticulate. Flowers bisexual, greenish-yellow,  in axillary spikes; peduncle puberulous; bracteoles linear-lanceolate, caduceus. Calyx tube rusty pubescent, constricted above the ovary; lobes 5, cream, triangular, tomentose; disc 5-lobed, villous. Petals absent. Fruit a drupe obovoid, obscurely 5-ridged, yellowish-brown, honed, not winged, softly tomentose; seed one, ellipsoid.