Category: N

Nothopegia racemosa

Description: Small trees, up to 7 m tall; branches glabrous. Leaves variable in shape, obovate, oblanceolate, oblong or elliptic-lanceolate, 15-19×4-5.5 cm, acute or cuneate at base, abruptly acuminate at apex, puberulous beneath, coriaceous; main nerves about 24 pairs; petioles 1.5 – 2 cm long. Flowers in 2 – 4 cm long rusty pubescent axillary recemes, polygamous. Calyx 4-lobed. Petals 4. Male flowers ca 1 mm across. Stamens 4. Disc 4-lobed. Bisexual flowers are approximately 2 mm across, with 4 stamens. The ovary is sessile, and the stigma is obscurely 3-lobed. The fruit is a subconic oval drupe, measuring about 3 mm in diameter and compressed. It contains a solitary seed.

Flowering & Fruiting: November – March.

Distribution: India: Western Ghats, ascending up to 1650 m. Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Sri Lanka.

Uses: The fruit is edible. The wood is used as timber.

Nothopegia beddomei Gamble (ANACARDIACEAE)

Description: The trees can grow up to 15 meters in height. The leaves are simple, alternate, lanceolate, or oblanceolate, measuring 9.5-14 x 2.5-5.5 cm. They are caudate-acuminate, puberulous beneath, and thinly coriaceous. There are approximately 20 pairs of main nerves, and the petioles are 0.8-1.0 cm long. Flowers in 2.5 – 5 cm long pubescent paniculate recemes, white. Male flowers ca 2 mm in diam. Calyx 4-lobed, villous. Petals 4. Stamens 4; filaments subulate, villous. Disc 4-lobed, glabrous. Carpels absent. Fruit a drupe, oval, 1-1.3 cm in diam., compressed, depressed at tip, turning purple. Seed solitary.

Flowering & Fruiting: March – July.

Distribution: India: Western Ghats, up to 1650 m. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Sri Lanka.

Nothapodytes nimmoniana (Graham) Mabb. (ICACINACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Durvasane mara, Hedara, Kodsa.
Tamil: Arali.
Telugu: Arali, Chorla.

Description: The trees reach heights of up to 10 meters. The leaves are arranged alternately, ovate-oblong, or elliptic-oblong, with dimensions of up to 27 x 10 cm. They have an acute or rounded and uneven base, and the apex is acute or acuminate. The undersides of the leaves are pubescent, and the petioles can extend up to 6 cm in length. Flowers in terminal, corymbose cymes, yellowish white, foetid; puduncle pubescent. Calyx 5-toothed. Petals 5, pubescent within. Stamens 5, free; filaments flattened and dialated at base. Disk cup-shaped, surrounding the ovary. Ovary silky-tomentose. Drupes ellipsoid or slightly obovoid, ca1 0.6 cm, blackish purple when ripe. Seed solitary, black.

Flowering & Fruiting: October – March.

Distribution: India: Sikkim, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Uses: The plant is said to possess anti-cancer properties.

Neolitsea foliosa

Description: Evergreen trees, 10-12 m tall. Leaves in whorls, ovate or lanceolate,ca 17×7.5 cm, acuminate at apex, papery or leathery, whitish or cream when young, subcoriaceous, glabrous; nerves from midribs 2-3 pairs, faint; petioles prominent. Flowers in umbels, brownish yellow, dioecious. Perianth lobes 4, silky-hairy without. Stamens 6, outer eglandular, inner glandular; pistillode present. There are six staminodes in pistillate flowers. The ovary is ovoid, with a thick style and a peltate stigma. The fruit is a globose berry, approximately 6 mm across, and the fruiting perianth has a petal-like appearance, remaining entire. Each fruit contains a solitary seed.

Flowering & Fruiting : October – April.

Distribution: India – Western Ghats and hills of Deccan. Malaysia.