| Drypetes wightii | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malpighiales |
| Family: | Putranjivaceae |
| Genus: | Drypetes |
| Species: | D. wightii |
| Binomial name | |
| Drypetes wightii (Hook.f.) Pax & K.Hoffm. | |
| Synonyms [2] | |
| |
Drypetes wightii is an evergreen tree species endemic to the Western Ghats, India. [3] The species is considered Vulnerable under the IUCN Redlist of Threatened Species . [1]
The species occurs as small trees up to 12 m tall. The bark and trunk appear whitish. The trees have a characteristic horizontal branches, with cylindrical branchlets. Branchlets and leaves lack hairs. The leaves are simple, alternate, and distichous, with short petioles about 0.2 - 0.6 cm long. The leaf blade is sub-coriaceous, about 4-9 cm long by 1.5 to 3.5 cm wide, dark green, drying pale greenish to brown. The shape of the leaves is elliptic with a slight asymmetric base and an acuminate apex. The margin is entire. The leaves have a midrib that is flat above. Leaves have 6-9 pairs of secondary nerves. [4] The flowers are unisexual, with male flowers in axillary clusters from pedicels about 3-5 mm long, puberulous and 4 to 5 tepals about 3 x 2-2.5 mm in size, 6-10 stamens that are about 1-1.5 mm long. The stamen filaments are free, with oblong anthers. [5] The female flowers are also axillary, but solitary, with pedicels 4-5 mm long, puberulous and 4-5 tepals about 3-4 × 2.5-3.5 mm in size; disc annular and reniform stigma. The ovary is about 2 x 1 mm, ellipsoid and with a single locule with two ovules, sparsely puberulous to glabrous. The fruit is a drupe, ovoid to ellipsoid in shape, about 1.7-2 cm long by 1.5 cm wide, smooth and hair-less, with a pedicel about 10-12 mm long and holding a single seed. [4] [5]
The species occurs in the Western Ghats mountains in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala from Wynaad and the Nilgiris in the North to the Anamalai Hills. It occurs between 900 and 1500 m. [4] [6]
The trees occur in mid-elevation (900 to 1500 m) tropical wet evergreen forests of the Western Ghats.
The species is considered rare and is found in the understorey of taller trees. [4] It has been reported to occur at a density of 6 to 24 stems per hectare in tropical wet evergreen forests in different locations. [7] [8] [9]
The specific epithet derives from Robert Wight, whom the species is named for. In Malayalam, the species is called vellakasavu. [5]
Nageia wallichiana is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae. It is a tree 10–54 m high, found in Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Nageia wallichiana is the most widely distributed species among the seven species in the genus Nageia. If the land areas of China and Japan are excluded, its distribution nearly coincides with that of the genus and includes both the western outliers in India and the easternmost part on Normanby Island. It is one of the most extensive conifer ranges recognized and is similar to Dacrycarpus imbricatus and Podocarpus neriifolius.
Anacolosa densiflora is a species of plant in the Olacaceae family. Currently, it is an endangered species that is endemic to India.
Gluta travancorica is a species of plant in the family Anacardiaceae. It is endemic to the southern Western Ghats 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.
Vateria indica, the white dammar, is a species of tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats mountains in India. It is threatened by habitat loss. It is a large canopy or emergent tree frequent in tropical wet evergreen forests of the low and mid-elevations.
Vatica chinensis is a species of flowering tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae, found in South Asia.
Tropical evergreen forests of India are found in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Western Ghats, which fringe the Arabian Sea, the coastline of peninsular India, and the greater Assam region in the north-east. Small remnants of evergreen forest are found in Odisha state. Semi-evergreen forest is more extensive than the evergreen formation partly because evergreen forests tend to degrade to semi-evergreen with human interference. There are substantial differences between the three major evergreen forest regions.The average annual rainfall is 65-75 inches.
Diospyros atrata is a tree in the Ebony family. It commonly grows to 25 metres tall. The plant can be seen in subcanopy trees in medium elevation wet evergreen forests between 1000 and 1400 m in Western Ghats- South Sahyadri, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu in India and from Kandy district in Sri Lanka
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.
Actephila excelsa is a species of shrub in the family Phyllanthaceae. It is native to an area in Tropical Asia and Zhōngguó/China, from Sulawesi to India and Guangxi. It is a highly variable species and leaf forms vary across adjacent ecozones. The plant is used in building houses and as a vegetable. Grey-shanked douc langurs eat the leaves.
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.
Parkia filicoidea, or African locust bean, is a large, spreading flat-crowned tree to 30 metres tall, the bole of which may be narrowly buttressed to a height of about 3 metres, and up to 120 cm DBH. It occurs in wet evergreen or semi-deciduous forest, sometimes on forest fringes, riverbanks and lakes, termite mounds, at elevations up to 1000 metres from Côte d’Ivoire, east to Sudan and Somalia, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi and south to Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Bark on trunk scaly or smooth, grey to yellow-brown, branchlets glabrous to puberulous.
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.
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.
Aporosa octandra is a species of plant in the family Phyllanthaceae found from Queensland and New Guinea to Indonesia, Zhōngguó/China and India. It is a highly variable plant with 4 named varieties. Its wood is used in construction and to make implements, its fruit is edible. The Karbi people of Assam use the plant for dyeing, textile colours have quite some significance in their culture.
Palaquium ellipticum is a tree in the family Sapotaceae. This is a common canopy tree in low and medium elevation evergreen forests up to 1500 m. This species is endemic to the Western Ghats.
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.
Diospyros paniculata, or the panicle-flowered ebony, is a species of tree in the ebony family. Endemic to the Western Ghats area of India and parts of Bangladesh, the species is currently listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List.
Dysoxylum malabaricum or white cedar is a tree species endemic to the Western Ghats, India. The species is considered Endangered under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
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