Myristica beddomei

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Myristica beddomei
Myristica beddomei and fruit.jpg
Myristica beddomei leaves and fruits
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Magnoliids
Order: Magnoliales
Family: Myristicaceae
Genus: Myristica
Species:
M. beddomei
Binomial name
Myristica beddomei

Myristica beddomei is a species of tree in the family Myristicaceae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats, India, [2] where it is frequent in the mid-elevation wet evergreen forests [3] and an important food tree of hornbills. The species has been earlier misidentified in regional floras and herbarium specimens as Myristica dactyloides Gaertn., the latter occurring only in Sri Lanka. [2]

Contents

Description

Canopy and sub-canopy trees in tropical wet evergreen forests, growing up to 25 m high. The trees have a smooth blackish green bark that peels off. Inner bark is deep red and when exposed or blazed produces a red exudate. The cylindrical branches are arranged in whorls around the trunk and are held horizontally almost perpendicular to the main trunk. [4] [5] The leaves are simple, alternate, and arranged in rows on opposite sides of the twigs (distichous) with a hairless petiole about 1.5 cm to 4 cm long that has a groove along the top (canaliculate). The leaf blade is thick and leathery, shining dark green above and whitish glaucous below. Leaves are variable in shape (oblong or elliptic to lanceolate), and about 12-25 cm long by 4-12 cm wide. The leaf apex is usually acute with a blunt tip or obtuse, while the base is acute to rounded.The leaf has an entire margin and a raised midrib. Venation includes 10 to 18 pairs of secondary nerves and tertiary nerves that are obscure or broadly reticulo-percurrent when visible. [5]

Myristica beddomei is dioecious, with unisexual white flowers. The male flowers occur in clusters of 10-12 in short umbels in the axils of leaves, while female flowers are arranged in fascicles without stalks. The fruit is a distinctive egg-shaped, tomentose capsule, yellowish brown to orange in colour about 6 cm long by 3-4 cm in diameter, and with a shallow groove on the surface. When ripe, the capsule dehisces open to reveal the single egg-shaped or ellipsoid dark brown seed covered in a bright orange red, deeply laciniate aril. [4] [5] The fruit was reported to have average dimensions of 63.4 mm length and 60.0 mm diameter, and mass of 77 g, while the corresponding seed measurements were 39.5 mm (length), 35.5 mm (diameter), and 19 g (mass). [6]

Taxonomy

Myristica beddomei differs from the Sri Lankan taxon M. dactyloides in leaf and flower characteristics. The latter has broadly lanceolate to broadly elliptic leaves with obtuse base, being brownish with indistinct veins on the underside. The male flowers have caducous bracteoles and the male flower buds are distinctly ellipsoid with pointed apex. [2]

Myristica beddomei has three known subspecies: M. b.beddomei, M. b. ustulata and M. b. sphaerocarpa, with the former two subspecies sometimes wrongly identified as M. dactyloides in some regional floras and herbaria. [2]

M. b. sphaerocarpa differs from M. b. beddomei in its leaf size (7–10 × 3–5.5 cm), having 7–10 pairs of lateral veins (versus 12–20 in the former), and globose shape to the fruits and seeds, besides having a 4 mm thick pericarp. M. b. ustulata differs from the M. b. beddomei in having 3–4 mm thick dry pericarp, and male flowers having 0.3–0.5 mm long blackish brown hairs and persistent bracteole. [2]

Common names

The species has a number of common names in English and Indian languages. Common English names include wild nutmeg [7] and bitter nutmeg. [8] The species is known as kattu jathikkai or kakaimunji jathikai in Tamil; jayaphal in Marathi; ran-jayaphal in Konkani; jayaphal, jajikai, or kaadu jajikai in Kannada; and patthapanu, adakkapayin, panthapayin, panu, chorapali, chithirapoovu, pasupathi, or pathiripoovu in Malayalam. [7] [9]

Distribution and habitat

The species is found along the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, and Maharashtra, in subtropical and tropical wet evergreen forests, in sholas and occasionally in Myristica swamps. [2] [4] [5] The species occurs as sub-canopy trees in tropical wet evergreen forests from the foothills to an elevation of 1500 m. [9] In the Anaimalai Hills, the species is reported to range between 500 m and 1400 m in elevation, evenly and sparsely distributed through mature rainforests but also occurring in transitional forest zones. [10]

The distributional range of different sub-species is not clearly demarcated, with M. b. beddomei reported to occur in Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, M. b. sphaerocarpa in Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, and M. b. ustulata in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Ghats</span> Mountain range along the western coast of India

The Western Ghats, also known as the Sahyadri 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. 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 the Western Coastal Plains 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 term Malabar rainforests refers to one or more distinct ecoregions recognized by biogeographers:

  1. the Malabar Coast moist forests formerly occupied the coastal zone to the 250 metre elevation
  2. the South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests grow at intermediate elevations
  3. the South Western Ghats montane rain forests cover the areas above 1000 metres elevation
<i>Monodora myristica</i> Species of tree

Monodora myristica, the calabash nutmeg, is a tropical tree of the family Annonaceae or custard apple family of flowering plants. It is native to Angola, Benin, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda. In former times, its seeds were widely sold as an inexpensive nutmeg substitute. This is now less common outside its region of production. Other names of calabash nutmeg include Jamaican nutmeg, African nutmeg, ehuru, ariwo, awerewa, ehiri, airama, African orchid nutmeg, muscadier de Calabash and lubushi.

<i>Anacolosa densiflora</i> Species of flowering plant

Anacolosa densiflora is a species of plant in the Olacaceae family. Currently, it is an endangered species that is endemic to India.

<i>Myristica dactyloides</i> Species of flowering plant

Myristica dactyloides is a species of plant in the family Myristicaceae. It is endemic to Sri Lanka. The species was earlier thought to occur in India because two subspecies of the related Myristica beddomei found in India, namely M. b. beddomei and M. b. ustulata, were wrongly identified as M. dactyloides Gaertn. in many herbarium specimens and regional floras.

<i>Myristica magnifica</i> Species of flowering plant

Myristica magnifica is a species of plant in the family Myristicaceae. It is native to Karnataka and Kerala in India. It is classified as an endangered species according to the IUCN Redlist. The plant grows in terrestrial but swampy habitats along streams in evergreen forests. These swamps get inundated during the monsoons and remain flooded year round.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orophea thomsonii</span> Species of flowering plant

Orophea thomsonii or Thomson's Turret Flower is a species of shrub or small tree in the Annonaceae family. It is native to Kerala and Tamil Nadu in India and endemic to the Western Ghats mountain range.

<i>Palaquium ravii</i> Species of flowering plant

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.

<i>Phyllanthus anamalayanus</i> Species of flowering plant

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.

<i>Syzygium densiflorum</i> Species of flowering plant

Syzygium densiflorum is a species of evergreen tree in the family Myrtaceae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats mountains, India. The species is categorised as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List.

<i>Vateria indica</i> Species of tree

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.

<i>Myristica fragrans</i> Species of tree

Myristica fragrans is an evergreen tree indigenous to the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. It is important as the main source of the spices nutmeg and mace. It is widely grown across the tropics including Guangdong and Yunnan in China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Grenada in the Caribbean, Kerala in India, Sri Lanka and South America.

<i>Artocarpus hirsutus</i> Species of flowering plant

Artocarpus hirsutus, commonly known as wild jack, is a tropical evergreen tree species that is native to India, primarily in Kerala, but also in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, where it prefers moist, deciduous to partially evergreen woodlands.

<i>Garcinia pushpangadaniana</i> Species of flowering plant

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.

<i>Mallotus tetracoccus</i> Species of tree

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.

<i>Dipterocarpus bourdillonii</i> Species of tree

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.

<i>Bhesa indica</i> Species of flowering plant

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.

<i>Diospyros paniculata</i>

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.

<i>Drypetes wightii</i> Species of tree

Drypetes wightii is an evergreen tree species endemic to the Western Ghats, India. The species is considered Vulnerable under the IUCN Redlist of Threatened Species.

<i>Garcinia talbotii</i> Species of tree

Garcinia talbotii is a large tree in the family Clusiaceae and is endemic to the Western Ghats of India. The tree has yellow latex, and can attain a height of 25 m and girth up to 2.2 m. This species was first reported from Gairsoppah Ghats in North Kanara of Karanataka district.

References

  1. ↑ WCMC (1998). "Myristica beddomei subsp. sphaerocarpa". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 1998: e.T37301A10042251. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.1998.RLTS.T37301A10042251.en . Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Banik, D; Bora, P.P.; Kumar, V.S.; Bezbaruah, R.L. (2017). "Conspectus on Indian Gymnacranthera and Myristica". Rheedea. 27 (1): 1–12. doi: 10.22244/rheedea.2017.27.1.1 . ISSN   0971-2313.
  3. ↑ Pascal, Jean-Pierre; Pelissier, Raphael (1996). "Structure and floristic composition of a tropical evergreen forest in south-west India". Journal of Tropical Ecology. 12 (2): 191–214. doi:10.1017/S026646740000941X. ISSN   0266-4674.
  4. 1 2 3 "Myristica beddomei beddomei | Species". India Biodiversity Portal. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Myristica dactyloides Gaertn. | Species". India Biodiversity Portal. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  6. ↑ Jose, P. A., and Pillai, P.K. Chandrasekhara (2016) Conservation through restoration of wild nutmeg tree populations of Western Ghats of Kerala. KFRI Research Report No. 516, 61 pages. Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi, India. ISSN: 0970-8103
  7. 1 2 Neginhal, S.G. (2004). Forest Trees of South India. Bangalore: Navbharat Press. p. 284. ISBN   8190142011.
  8. ↑ "Bitter Nutmeg". Flowers of India. 2023. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  9. 1 2 "Myristica dactyloides - MYRISTICACEAE". www.biotik.org. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
  10. ↑ Madhavan, A.P.; Bhat, Kshama; Kasinathan, Srinivasan (2022). Last Ones Standing: Eleven Threatened Trees of the Western Ghats Rainforests. Mysuru: Nature Conservation Foundation. pp. 26–29. ISBN   9788195466306.


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