Psychotria flavida Talbot (RUBIACEAE)
Description: Small shrub, up to 2 m tall. Leaves opposite, elliptic-oblong, 10-25 x 5-10 cm, cuneate at base, acute or shortly acuminate at apex, coriaceous, glabrous; main nerves 10-12 pairs; petioles 0.5-1.0 cm long; stipules ovate, acuminate, deciduous. Flower in terminal peduncled cymes, cyme branches greenish, turning bright yellow in fruit. Calyx truncate; teeth obscure or 0. Corolla tube short, densely hairy in the throat inside, lobes 5. Stamens 5; inserted at throat of corolla, included. Ovary 2-locular; style short; stigma bifid. The fruit is a drupe, either ellipsoid or subglobose, measuring 6 mm in diameter. It is compressed, crowned with the calyx, and turns black when ripe. The seeds are planocomy, rugose, black, with a ruminate albumen.
Flowering & Fruiting : May – August.
Distribution: India: Abundant in the evergreen forests of Western Ghats and W. Coast. Endemic.