Vatica chinensis

Vatica chinensis
Vatica chinensis tree in Edappally, Kochi
Conservation status

Critically Endangered  (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Dipterocarpaceae
Genus: Vatica
Species: V. chinensis
Binomial name
Vatica chinensis
Linn

Vatica chinensis is a species of plant in the Dipterocarpaceae family.

It is found in India and Sri Lanka.

Description

Evergreen trees, to 25 m high, bole buttressed; bark pale green, smooth; exudation resinous; young shoots, buds, outside of perianth exposed in bud, lepidote. Leaves simple, alternate; stipules small, fugacious; petiole 20–50 mm long, stout, glabrous; lamina 9-25 x 3–11 cm, ovate or oblong, base obtuse or broadly cuneate, apex obtusely acute, margin entire, coriaceous, glabrous; lateral nerves 10-14 pairs, parallel, prominent, intercostae scalariform, prominent. Flowers bisexual, white, in axillary spreading panicles; pedicels 5-ribbed; ribs alternating with sepals; calyx tube very short, adnate to the base of the ovary; lobes 5, ovoid-deltoid, acute, pubescent; petals 5, white, oblong; stamens 15 in 2 rows; filaments short, flattened at base; anthers oblong, shortly apiculate; ovary superior, covered with large shallow pits, lepidote, 3-celled, ovules 2 in each cell; style about as long as ovary, ribbed; stigmas densely papillose, obscurely 3-lobed. Fruit a capsule, lepidote, subglobose shortly pointed with 3 obscure, loculicidal furrows, puberulous; pericarp coriaceous; calyx persistent.[1]

Vatica chinensis fruit
Vatica chinensis flower
Vatica chinensis leaf

References

  1. ↑ Description given by Dr. N Sasidharan (Dr. B P Pal Fellow), Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi. Taken from India biodiversity portal - http://treesindia.in/species/show/262289

Sources