| Shield Aralia |
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 ntroduced |
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Photo: Dinesh Valke |
Botanical name: Polyscias scutellaria Family: Araliaceae (Ivy family)
Shield Aralia are treelets or small trees, 2-6 m tall. Leaves 1- or
2-pinnate; leaf stalk 35-30 cm, enlarged and clasping at base, alate for 1-6
cm with membranous wings; petiolules 1-5 cm; leaflets 1, 3, or 5 (rarely 2 or
4), broadly elliptic to oblate or kidney-shaped, occasionally ovate or
obovate, 5-20 × 5-20 cm, papery to subleathery, base shallowly heart-shaped
or convex, margin subentire to serrates. Tiny flowers occur in erect panicles
of umbels. Shield Aralia is native to Africa to the Pacific Islands.
Identification credit: Nandan Kalbag & Dinesh Valke
| Photographed in Maharashtra. |