கொடம்புளி Kudampuli

Description

Cambodge Tree is an evergreen, small or medium-sized understorey tree, 5-20 m tall, about 70 cm bole diameter, with a rounded crown and horizontal or drooping branches. The bark is dark and smooth. Leaves are opposite, stalked, dark green, shining, 13-18 by 4-8 cm, elliptic to obovate, hairless. Leaf-stalks are 1.2-2.2 cm long. Flowers are borne in clusters of 4-20, are usually red, but some trees have yellow ones. Petals are normally 4, each about 1.2 cm wide 1.1 cm long, anthers attached to a pistillode with a non-functional stigma. Female flowers occur singly or in clusters of up to 4. The stigmatic surface is normally enlarged, and there is no style. Female flowers have rudimentary and non- functional staminodes. Neither male nor female flowers produce nectar. Fruit is a green, ovoid berry, with 6-8 grooves, 5 cm in diameter, yellow or red when ripe. Seed 6-8, smooth, large, about 5 cm long and 2 cm wide surrounded by a succulent aril. Cambodge Tree is found in Western_Ghats and Sri Lanka