943

Hymenodictyon orixense (Roxb.) Mabb.

Synonym	:	Benteca rheedei Roem. & Schult.
Family	:	Rubiaceae
Local name	:	Vellakdamabu
Flowering and fruiting period	:	July-January
Distribution	:	Indo-Malesia
Distribution in kerala	:	All Districts
Habitat	:	Deciduous forests, also in the plains
Uses	:	bark is used in local medicine as an antiperiodic, astringent and febrifuge
Key Botanical Characters  :     Deciduous trees, to 20 m high, bark grey to greyish-brown, rough, vertically fissured and cracked; blaze orange red; branches pubescent. Leaves simple, opposite, decussate; stipules interpetiolar, leafy, membranous, cauducous;. Flowers bisexual, pale green,  in axillary and terminal racemes; bracts 2, leafy, persistent; bracteoles linear; calyx tube short, truncate to globose, lobes 5, puberulous without, acute, deciduous; corolla tube slender, elongate, limb expanding, lobes 5, puberulous without; Fruit a capsule, , flat, elliptic, pendulous, 2 valved, brown; seeds many, broadly winged.