Ixora arnottiana Miq. ex Hook.f.

Common Names : Marachekki, Marachethi, Gorbale

Flowering Period : January-May

Distribution : Western Ghats

Habitat : Semi-evergreen forests and sacred groves

Uses : Bark powder possess antimcrobial and antioxidant properties.

Key Characters :

Evergreen trees, to 8 m high, bark smooth, greyish-brown; branchlets terete, glabrous. Leaves simple, opposite, decussate, 7.5-20 x 3-7 cm, elliptic-oblanceolate, obovate, elliptic or elliptic-oblong, apex obtuse, base attenuate, acute or cuneate, margin entire, glabrous, coriaceous; stipule 4-4.5 mm x 5-6 mm, interpetiolar, apex acute; petiole 5-20 mm long, stout, glabrous; lateral nerves 6-20, pinnate, very slender; intercostae reticulate, slender. Flowers bisexual, white, fragrant, small, sessile, in terminal, long peduncle, bracteate, panicled cyme; peduncles and pedicels puberulus. Calyx tube minute, 4 teethed, membranous. Corolla tube 6 mm long, slender, lobes 4, oblong, recurved. Stamens 4, attached to the mouth of corolla tube; anthers sagitate. Ovary 2-celled, inferior, ovules one in each cell; style filiform; stigma bifid. Fruit berry, red-purple, 5 mm across, globose, glabrous; pyrenes planoconvex.