840
Psilanthus
travancorensis (Wight & Arn.) J.-F.Leroy
Synonym
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Coffea
travancorensis Wight & Arn.
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Family
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Rubiaceae
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Local name
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Malayalam - Pushkkaramoolam,
Pushkkaramulla
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Flowering and fruiting period
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October-December
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Distribution
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Peninsular India and Sri Lanka
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Distribution in Kerala
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Kottayam, Alappuzha, Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur,
Ernakulam, Wayanad, Kannur.
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Habitat
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Sacred groves and scrub jungles
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IUCN Status
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Vulnerable
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Uses
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It is used
to cure anaemia, cardiac diseases, skin diseases, oedema, ulcers and
inflammatory swellings.
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Key
Botanical Characters:
Shrubs, to 1.5-2.5 m
tall. Leaves simple, opposite, variable in size and shape,
broadly ovate,
elliptic or oblanceolate, entire, acute or shortly acuminate at apex, acute
or cuneate at base. Inflorescence 1-5 flowered, mostly on terminal. Flowers
white, fragrant, the central flower in 3-5 flowered inflorescence usually
ebracteate and ebracteolate, others with one pair of bracts and a pair of
closely set bracteoles. Calyx cup-shaped, glabrous, much shorter than the disc,
limb subentire. Corolla glabrous, tube cylindric, lobes 5, elliptic-obtuse.
Stamens 5, inserted below the throat; anthers sessile, tips exserted. Ovary
stipitate, style glabrous; stigma 2-lobed, lobes acute. Fruits blue-black
when ripe, depressed globose, didymous; seeds dark, ellipsoid, with a
prominent ventral groove.
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