Mallotus
Scientific Name :
Mallotus atrovirens Muell.-Arg.
Synonym(s) :
Croton atrovirens Wall.
Local/Common name(s) :
Mallotus
Family :
Euphorbiaceae
Habit :
Tree
Flowering/Fruiting Time :
January-July
Habitat :
Along riverbanks in semi-evergreen forests, also in the plains
Endemic :
Yes
Status (IUCN) :
Vulnerable (VU)
Distribution :
Southern Western Ghats
Nativity :
Indigenous
Uses :
Description (Morphology) :
Small trees, to 7 mm high, bark ash-grey; blaze-dull yellow, branchlets glabrous. Leaves simple. opposite; stipules interpetiolar; petiole 5-20 mm long, stout, glabrous, grooved above; lamina 5.5-15 x 2-6 cm, elliptic-obovate or obovate, base acute or cuneate, apex acute or shortly acuminate, margin entire, glabrous above, yellow glandular beneath, chartaceous; lateral nerves 5-7 pairs, pinnate, slender, prominent, intercostae scalariform, prominent. Flowers unisexual, yellow, in axillary and terminal racemes; pedicels yellow glandular; perianth globose, glabrescent, densely glandular, separating into 3-5 lobes; ovary 2-4-celled, ovules one in each cell; stigma sessile, 2, plumose; stamens many, exserted, free. Fruit a capsule 5 x 7 mm, 2-lobed, smooth, yellow glandular; style deciduous; seeds 2, plano-convex or hemispherical, 3.5 x 4 mm; smooth.