Digital Garden

Polyalthia suberosa (Roxb.) Thw.

ഡബ്ബാർ ട്രീ

Family : ANNONACEAE

Synonym : Guatteria suberosa (Roxb.) Dunal

Common Names : Corky debbar tree

Flowering Period : September-March

Distribution : Indo-Malesia

Habitat : Sacred grooves in the plains

Uses : Fruits are numerous, ovoid or globose, 4 to 5 mm long, purple, fleshy and edible. A decoction of the fresh roots is used as abortifacient. The olive-grey wood is close-grained, hard, tough and durable. Generally too small for most purposes.

Key Characters :

Small trees, 4-6 m tall, branching from base; bark fissured, corky, rough; young branches rufous tomentose. Leaves simple, alternate, distichous, estipulate; petiole 2-3 mm long, brown pubescent, slender; lamina 3-12 x 1-3.5 cm oblong, elliptic-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, base slightly narrowed, oblique or obtuse, apex obtuse or obtusely acute, margin entire, undulate, glabrous and shiny above, pubescent and pale beneath, submembranous; lateral veins 9-12 pairs, pinnate, faint; intercostae reticulate. Flowers bisexual, yellowish-green, mostly suffused with purple, solitary, rarely in pairs, extra-axillary, 8-10 mm long; pedicels slender, 1.5-2.5 cm long; sepals 3, spreading, ovate, acute, ca. 2 x 1 mm, pubescent outside, glabrous inside, petals 6 (3+3); outer petals ovate to oblong-lanceolate, acute, slightly reflexed, ca. 6 x 4-5 mm, thickly coriaceous, silky pubescent outside, glabrous inside; inner ones slightly longer; torus convex; stamens numerous, ca. 1 mm long, connectives slightly convex at top concealing the anther cells; carpels many, ca. 2 mm long, pubescent, ovule one, style oblong, stigma triangular, flat. Fruit aggregate of berries; fruitlets subglobose, purple ca. 5 mm across, puberulous, stalks slender, 0.5-1 cm long; seeds 1, globose, smooth.