Cullenia exarillata | |
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Cullenia exarillata tree | |
Cullenia exarillata fruiting branch | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Malvales |
Family: | Malvaceae |
Genus: | Cullenia |
Species: | C. exarillata |
Binomial name | |
Cullenia exarillata | |
Synonyms | |
C. excelsa, Durio ceylanicus, Durio exarillatus Wight [1] Contents |
Cullenia exarillata is a flowering plant evergreen tree species in the family Malvaceae endemic to the rainforests of the southern Western Ghats in India. It is one of the characteristic trees of the mid-elevation tropical wet evergreen rainforests and an important food plant for the endemic primate, the lion-tailed macaque. [2]
Tall evergreen trees with smooth greyish white bark, flaking in mature trees, with straight boles, frequently buttressed. The branches are horizontal often with series of knob-like tubercles (for cauliflorous attachment of flowers and fruits). The young branchlets and the underside of leaves are covered by golden brown peltate (or shield like) scales. Leaves are simple, alternate, glabrous, shiny green above and covered beneath with silvery or orangish peltate scales. [3]
The tubular, hermaphroditic flowers (also covered by golden brown scales) are about 4–5 cm long and cream or pinkish brown in colour. The flowers lack petals and are formed of tubular bracteoles and tube-like calyx, obscurely 5-lobed. The round fruits, about 10–13 cm in diameter and covered with spines, are clustered along the branches. The fruit is a capsule, 5-valved, containing many reddish brown seeds about 4–5 cm long and 2–3 cm wide. In the fruit, the seeds are covered by a fleshy, whitish aril. The fruit dehisces open when mature and dry to release seeds. [4]
The genus Cullenia was created by Robert Wight and commemorates William Cullen with the type species excelsa from India which Wight considered incorrectly as being identical to the Sri Lankan C. ceylanica which was earlier described under the genus Durio. André Robyns examined Wight's specimen and fresh specimens from southern India and noted it as being distinct and described it as C. exarillata in 1970. C. ceylanica has the seeds covered by an aril whereas C. exarillata does not have the aril surrounding the seeds. [5] The genus is evolutionarily close to Boschia and Durio. [6]
The species is characteristically found and dominant in the mid-elevation (700 m to 1400 m) tropical wet evergreen rainforests, which has been called the Cullenia exarillata - Mesua ferrea - Palaquium ellipticum type. [7] It occurs from the southern tip of the Western Ghats in Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve and Agasthyamalai hills to Wayanad and Kodagu in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. [8] [3] [9]
The hermaphroditic (or bisexual) flowers are mainly pollinated by bats ( Cynopterus and Rousettus ) and arboreal mammals (Lion-tailed Macaque, Brown Palm Civet, Indian Giant Squirrel, Nilgiri Langur, and Indian Giant Flying Squirrel). [10] These mammals and other rodents that visit the flowers such as Dusky-striped Squirrel and Malabar Spiny Dormouse also act as flower predators as they consume a substantial number of flowers. [11] The flowers are also visited by a number of bird species, including Indian White-Eye, Square-tailed Bulbul, Yellow-browed Bulbul, Brown-cheeked Fulvetta, Common Rosefinch, Kerala Laughingthrush, and White-cheeked Barbet. [12] However, flowers visited by birds tend to be aborted. [13]
Cullenia exarillata is an outcrossing species, producing negligible fruit-set under geitonogamy and no fruit-set under autogamy. [13] The seeds are mechanically dispersed (gravity) [14] as well as by Lion-tailed Macaques over short distances.
Cullenia exarillata is a dominant tree species in the mid-elevation tropical rainforests (between 700 and 1,400 m elevation) of the southern Western Ghats. [7] It is also among the most abundant canopy trees in relatively undisturbed mature wet evergreen forests. [15] It occurs at a density of 20 trees/ha to 59.6 trees/ha in mid-elevation wet evergreen forests of the Anamalai Hills. [15] [16]
Individual trees were estimated to produce between 1300 and 26000 flowers (average = 8734) chiefly between February and May, followed by a fruiting peak between May and September, in a rainforest at the southern tip of the Western Ghats. [12] In the Anamalai Hills further north in the southern Western Ghats, the species was observed flowering between October and February. [16] As the tree flowers abundantly during the dry season, a period of fruit scarcity in the forest, the flowers attract many diurnal and nocturnal frugivorous mammals and birds, making the tree a possible keystone species in these forests. [12] The flowers are low in nectar but contain fleshy sepals embedded with nectaries which are the main reward for animal visitors. [13] The flowers are eaten by endemic arboreal mammals such as Lion-tailed Macaque, [2] [16] Brown Palm Civet, [17] Indian giant squirrel, Bonnet macaque, and Nilgiri langur. [16] The base of the sepals are consumed and the anthers and stigma are discarded. [16]
The seeds and flowers of this species form a major part of the diet of Lion-tailed macaque in mid-elevation rainforests: 24.8% of the annual diet in Puthuthottam forest fragment in the Anamalai Hills, [18] 20.7% of annual diet in Silent Valley National Park. [19] The seeds constituted about 20% of the annual fruit diet of the Lion-tailed macaque and 7.1% of Indian giant squirrel diet in mid-elevation rainforest of Pachapal Malai or Waterfall Shola in the Anamalai Hills. [16] Seeds were also found to be a minor food resource (<1% annual diet) for Nilgiri langur in this study. In lower-elevation rainforests at Varagaliar in the Anamalai Hills, Cullenia exarillata comprised a smaller percentage (0.4 – 1.2%) of the annual diet of lion-tailed macaques, with the flowers, seeds, and aril being consumed. [2] A seed predation rate of 45% has been estimated in a wet evergreen forest of the southern Western Ghats, caused by species such as Indian Giant squirrels that feed on unripe fruits (with softer spines) and Lion-tailed macaques that feed on ripe fruits (with hard spines). [20] Seeds fallen on the forest floor also suffer high predation by mammals and insects, with 91.6% of the seeds predated in experimental plots open to all predators and 44% predated in plots where mammals were excluded. [21] The study also reported that seeds of Cullenia exarillata were predated by three species of rodents (Malabar spiny dormouse, Rattus sp. and Indian crested porcupine), besides Indian spotted chevrotain, sambar, Indian muntjac, and a primate, Nilgiri langur. [21] Seed predation is higher in rainforest fragments than in contiguous rainforests, which has been experimentally revealed to be largely due to predation by mammals. [22]
The species is endemic to the Western Ghats and has not yet been assessed for the IUCN Red List. The tree may persist in rainforest fragments showing similar levels of flowering and fruit-set, and may even have higher fruit-set in some disturbed sites and on isolated trees. [23] Highly disturbed sites, including plantations where understorey vegetation and canopy trees were removed, have lower density of Cullenia exarillata. [15]
The Western Ghats or the Western Mountain range is a mountain range that covers an area of 160,000 km2 (62,000 sq mi) in a stretch of 1,600 km (990 mi) parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula, traversing the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the 36 biodiversity hotspots in the world. It is sometimes called the Great Escarpment of India. It contains a very large proportion of the country's flora and fauna, many of which are endemic to this region. According to UNESCO, the Western Ghats are older than the Himalayas. They influence Indian monsoon weather patterns by intercepting the rain-laden monsoon winds that sweep in from the south-west during late summer. The range runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain called Konkan along the Arabian Sea. A total of 39 areas in the Western Ghats, including national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests, were designated as world heritage sites in 2012 – twenty in Kerala, ten in Karnataka, six in Tamil Nadu and four in Maharashtra.
The South Western Ghats montane rain forests is an ecoregion in South India, covering the southern portion of the Western Ghats in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu at elevations from 1,000 to 2,695 m. Annual rainfall in this ecoregion exceeds 2,800 mm (110 in).
The lion-tailed macaque, also known as the wanderoo, is an Old World monkey endemic to the Western Ghats of South India.
Silent Valley National Park is a national park in Kerala, India. It is located in the Nilgiri hills, has a core area of 89.52 km2 (34.56 sq mi), which is surrounded by a buffer zone of 148 km2 (57 sq mi). This national park has some rare species of flora and fauna. This area was explored in 1847 by the botanist Robert Wight. It is located in the border of Mannarkkad Taluk of Palakkad district, Nilambur Taluk of Malappuram district, Kerala, and Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu.
The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is a biosphere reserve in the Nilgiri mountains of the Western Ghats in South India. It is the largest protected forest area in India, spreading across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. It includes the protected areas Mudumalai National Park, Mukurthi National Park, Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu; Nagarhole National Park, Bandipur National Park, both in Karnataka; Silent Valley National Park, Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, and Karimpuzha Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerela.
Anaimalai Tiger Reserve, earlier known as Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park and as Anaimalai Wildlife Sanctuary, is a protected area in the Anaimalai Hills of Pollachi and Valparai taluks of Coimbatore District and Udumalaipettai taluk in Tiruppur District, Tamil Nadu, India. The Tamil Nadu Environment and Forests Department by a notification dated 27 June 2007, declared an extent of 958.59 km2 that encompassed the erstwhile IGWLS&NP or Anaimalai Wildlife Sanctuary, as Anaimalai Tiger Reserve under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. According to the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the Reserve presently includes a core area of 958.59 km2 and buffer/peripheral area of 521.28 km2 forming a total area of 1479.87 km2.
The term Malabar rainforests refers to one or more distinct ecoregions recognized by biogeographers:
Most of Kerala, whose native habitat consists of wet evergreen rainforests at lower elevations and highland deciduous and semi-evergreen forests in the east, is subject to a humid tropical climate. However, significant variations in terrain and elevation have resulted in a land whose biodiversity registers as among the world’s most significant. But the district Alappuzha situated in Kerala is the only district of Kerala which have no forests.
The brown palm civet also called the Jerdon's palm civet is a palm civet endemic to the Western Ghats of India.
The Grizzled Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary (GSWS), also known as Srivilliputhur Wildlife Sanctuary, was established in 1988 to protect the Near threatened grizzled giant squirrel. Occupying an area of 485.2 km2, it is bordered on the southwest by the Periyar Tiger Reserve and is one of the best preserved forests south of the Palghat Gap.
Palaquium ravii is a species of tree in the family Sapotaceae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats mountains and native to Kerala and Tamil Nadu in India.
Phyllanthus anamalayanus is a species of plant in the family Phyllanthaceae. It is endemic to the Anamalai Hills in Coimbatore district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The species is a shrub or small tree occurring in the understorey of mid-elevation tropical wet evergreen forests in the Anamalai Hills, and is endemic to the Western Ghats. It is threatened by habitat loss.
The Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Kodagu District, Karnataka State, India, within the Western Ghats and about 250 km from Bangalore. The sanctuary covers an area of about 181 km and derives its name from the highest point of the mountain range, Brahmigiri Peak. It was declared a sanctuary on June 5, 1974.
Garcinia pushpangadaniana is a tree species in the family Clusiaceae. It was described in 2013 from a population found in the southern part of the Western Ghats in India. The specific epithet of this species honors Dr. P. Pushpangadan, former Director of Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanical Garden & Research Institute.
Mallotus tetracoccus, also known as the rusty kamala, is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is a tree species found in parts of south Asia, typically occurring in the edges of tropical wet evergreen and semi-evergreen forests.
Dipterocarpus bourdillonii is a species of large tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae endemic to the Western Ghats principally in the state of Kerala in India. It is a Critically Endangered species according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is a characteristic tree of the low-elevation tropical wet evergreen rainforests in the Western Ghats.
Bhesa indica is a flowering plant tree species in the Centroplacaceae family. It is distributed along the tropical wet evergreen forests of the Western Ghats of India. It is considered synonymous with Bhesa paniculata by some authors.
Karimpuzha Wildlife Sanctuary is a Wildlife sanctuary near Nilambur, Malappuram district in the Indian state of Kerala. It is declared as a wildlife sanctuary on 3 July 2020. It covers an area of 227.97 sq km and comprises the New Amarambalam Reserved Forest and Vadakkekotta vested forest, except the Manjeri colony of the Cholanaikar tribe. It forms a portion of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.
Baccaurea courtallensis is a flowering plant evergreen tree species belonging to the family Phyllanthaceae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats mountains in India. It is a medium size understory tree frequent in tropical wet evergreen forests of the low and mid-elevations (40-1000m). It is a Near Threatened species according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Cryptocarya anamalayana is a rare rainforest tree endemic to the southern Western Ghats, India. The specific epithet of the name refers to the Anamalai Hills, a major area of its distribution. The species considered endangered under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.