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Buckthorn-Leaved Kamala
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Buckthorn-Leaved Kamala
ative Photo: Prashant Awale
Common name: Buckthorn-Leaved Kamala • Malayalam: pee-tsjerou-ponnagam • Tamil: Marai-Yirdiyam • Telugu: Konda-Kunkumu
Botanical name: Mallotus rhamnifolius    Family: Euphorbiaceae (Castor family)
Synonyms: Croton reticulatus, Croton nervosus, Mallotus micranthus

Buckthorn-Leaved Kamala is a tree up to 5 m tall. Bark is greyish, warty. Branchlets are round, velvety. Leaves are simple, opposite to subopposite, decussate; stipules caducous; leaf-stalk 1-5 cm long, planoconvex in cross section, swollen at both ends, stellate hairy. Leaves are 10.5-23 x 5.3-13 cm, ovate, apex pointed to long-pointed, base rounded, entire or slightly sinuate, yellow-glandular beneath; trinerved at base; secondary_nerves ca. 6 pairs. Flowers are unisexual, in axillary spikes. Capsule, 3-valved, minutely stellate hairy; seeds 3, brown. Buckthorn-Leaved Kamala is found in peninsular India and Sri Lanka, in the Western Ghats - South Sahyadri.

Identification credit: Shrikant Ingalhalikar
Photographed in Bhimashankar, Maharashtra.
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