Pterospermum reticulatum wight & Arn. (STERCULIACEAE)
Common names
Malayalam: Mala vuram.
Tamil: Muli polavu, Thopuli.
Description: Trees, up to 25 m tall. Leaves elliptic-obovate, up to 12 x 9 cm, cuneate to obliquely subcordate at base, acuminate at apex, entire or coarsely toothed near apex, underside covered with cream-coloured mealy tomentum dotted with darker minute stellate hairs, 3-nerved at base. Flowers 1-3, axillary,ca 3 cm across, yellowish. Bracteoles laceriate. Sepals 5, linear – lanceolate, connate at base, rusty stillate-hairy outside. Petals 5, obovate-oblong, recurved. Stamens 15 in 5 groups of 3 between the 5 filiform staminodes; connective produced into a terminal point. The ovary is positioned at the apex of the staminal column and is 5-locular. The capsules are either ovoid or oblong, measuring 5-7 x 3 cm, with obtuse 5-angled contours. They are slightly constricted at the base, stellate-pubescent, and open through loculicidal 5-valved dehiscence. In each locule, there are four seeds, featuring wings above.
Flowering: December – March.
Fruiting: March – November.
Distribution: India: In evergreen forests of Western Ghats at low elevations. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic.
Uses: Sometimes planted as roadside tree.