Checklist of Mangrove species of South East India and Sri Lanka

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Clerodendrum inerme (L.) Gaertn. - VERBENACEAE - Dicotyledon

Common name in Tamil : Pinchil, sangam, anjali
Common name in Telugu : Pisingi, pisung, takkolakamu
Common name in Singhalese : Wal gurenda

Habit - © Pierre GRARD - IFP Habit - © Pierre GRARD - IFP Stems and flowers - © Pierre GRARD - IFP Stems and flowers - © Pierre GRARD - IFP Leaf - © Pierre GRARD - IFP Flowers - © Pierre GRARD - IFP Flowers - © Pierre GRARD - IFP Young fruits - © Pierre GRARD - IFP Mature fruits - © Pierre GRARD - IFP Mature fruits - © Pierre GRARD - IFP Seeds - © Pierre GRARD - IFP Bark - © Pierre GRARD - IFP Botanical line drawing - © Rapinat Herbarium - Trichy

Diagnostic characters Botany & morphology Ecology Distribution Uses Null Null Null

Diagnostic characters :

Scrambling shrub and much branched; bark pale brown. Leaves, small, ovoid. Flowers white in cymes.

Botany & morphology :

Leaves simple, entire, opposite, elliptic or obovate, apex obtuse or rounded, base acute or cuneate, 1.5 - 4 x 1.5 – 2 cm, glabrous; petioles 0.6 to 1.5 cm.

Inflorescence axillary pedunculate 3 to 5 flowered cymes.

Flowers small, regular, bisexual; calyx cupular, 5 lobed, persistent often accrescent; corolla tube funnel-shaped, long and slender, lobes 5; stamens 4, filaments exerted, purplish-red, didynamous, anthers oblong; ovary 4-celled, style long and exerted, stigma bifid.

Fruits drupe, obovoid with 4-lobed separating in to 4 pyrenes.

Ecology :

Common along the sea coast. Dominates along the estuarine bank both in high and low salinity levels.

Distribution :

Indo-China. Throughout India and Sri Lanka at low elevation.

Uses :

The juice of the leaves are used as a remedy to bring down fever. The plant also used as hedge plant.

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