Botanical name: Eugenia kalamii    Family: Myrtaceae (Bottlebrush family)

Kerala Cherry is an under-shrub, up to 1 m tall, young shoots silvery velvet-hairy. The name honours A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, a renowned Indian space scientist. Leaves are ovate-lanceshaped, 2.5-9 x 2.5-3.5 cm, somewhat leathery, pointed at base, narrowly tapering at tip; lateral nerves 10-14 pairs; leaf-stalks 1.5-4 mm long. Flowers are white, about 1 cm across, solitary or paired, rarely 3-together, at branch-ends, in leaf-axils or rarely lateral on a 3 mm long silvery velvet-hairy flower-cluster-stalks; flower-stalks 1.5-6 mm long, silvery velvet-hairy. Bracts are 2, linear lanceshaped, about 1.5 x 0.7-1 mm long; bracteoles 2, ovate-triangular, 0.8-1 x 1 mm, silvery velvet-hairy. Sepal-cup is cup-shaped, up to 2 x 2 mm; sepals 4, unequal, sub round to elliptic-oblong, about 1.5 x 1.2 mm. Petals are 4, ovate-elliptic, 3.8-4.6 x 3 mm, white. Fruit is fleshy, depressed-spherical, ellipsoid or rarely obovoid 11-14 x 13-15 mm, smooth, crimson on ripening; seed 1. Kerala Cherry is found in Western Ghats. Flowering: July-September.

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The flower labeled Kerala Cherry is ...