824

Ardisia elliptica Thunb.

Synonym	:	Ardisia littoralis Andrews
Family	:	Myrsinaceae
Local name	:	English- Coralbush Malyalam-  Kadal cherry
Flowering and fruiting period	:	April-September
Distribution		India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Malesia
Distribution in Kerala	:	Alappuzha, Kollam, Kottayam
Habitat	:	Mangrove swamps and backwaters
Uses	:	The plant is sometimes harvested from the wild for local use as a food and medicine. It is often grown as an ornamental, being valued especially for its attractive fruit.
Key Botanical Characters:   Erect branched shrub to 1.5 m tall. Leaves clustered towards the ends of the branches, obovate-oblong or elliptic, base cuneate, apex acute or subobtuse, coriaceous; petiole to 1 cm long. Inflorescence axillary or lateral umbels, rarely lengthened into racemes; peduncle 2-3 cm long. Flowers pink; pedicels 0.8-1.4 cm long,stout. Calyx long; lobes elliptic, obtuse, with membranous margins, in fruit enlarged,orbicular, closely pressed to the berry. Corolla-lobes long, obliquely ovate-acuminate, gland-dotted. Berry s, dipressed globose, apiculate, red at first turning purplish black.