''Anacolosa densiflora'' is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

in the Olacaceae family. Currently, it is an endangered species that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Description

''Anacolosa densiflora'' is a large tree with long, thin branches. These branches hold a unique fruit that resembles a green plum that turns brown once it falls and dries. This species grows to be around 25 meters tall and has leaves that can be yellow, brown, white, or pink. The leaves are elliptical and are between 6–12 mm long. They pattern in a simple alternate rotation when growing on ''Anacolosa densiflora''.

Flowering

Flowers on ''Anacolosa densiflora'' are white, fragrant, and contain 5-6 petals per flower. The plant flowers between the months of September and June. The flowers are bisexual and contain about 5-6 stamen and very small globose anthers. The flower is conical in shape and contain 2-3 ovaries.

Distribution

''Anacolosa densiflora'' is native and

. Specifically, ''Anacolosa densiflora'' is found in the Western Ghats of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. This tree is not found anywhere else, and grows only in the tropical and evergreen forests of the region. The tree is on the endangered species list

Habitat

''Anacolosa densiflora'' is found in tropical rainforests. This habitat generally lies close to the equator, and is extremely warm and wet. Average rainfall lies between 168 cm to over 1000 cm. Temperatures may also exceed 18 °C (64 °F). ''Anacolosa densiflora'' is also able to live and thrive in

evergreen forests An evergreen forest is a forest made up of evergreen trees. They occur across a wide range of climatic zones, and include trees such as conifers and holly in cold climates, eucalyptus, Live oak, acacias, magnolia, and banksia in more temperate zon ...

where the climate is rather temperate and moist. All ''Anacolosa densiflora'' habitats face problems with ongoing deforestation.

Status

Due to the endangered status, over harvesting, and destruction of, ''Anacolosa densiflora'' habitat needs to be monitored. Ongoing deforestation in this tree's habitat is gradually destroying this unique tree.

References

Sources

*Walter K.S. and Gillett H.J. (eds) 1998. 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants. Compiled by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. *Nayar M.P. and Sastry A.R.K. (eds) 1990. Red Data Book of Indian Plants Vol. 3. Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta, India. *Parthasarathy N. 1999. Tree diversity and distribution in undisturbed and human impacted sites of tropical wet evergreen forest in southern Western Ghats, India. Biodiversity and Conservation 8: 1365–1381. *Flora of Tamil Nadu, VOL. I, 1983; Gamble, 1957, Biodiversity Documentation for Kerala Part 6: Flowering Plants, N. Sasidharan, 2004 *IUCN 1994. IUCN Red List Categories. International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. The World Conservation Union, Cambridge, UK. *Ganesh T., Ganesan R., Soubadra Devy M., Davidar P. and Bawa K.S. 1996. Assessment of plant biodiversity at mid-elevation evergreen forest of Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Western Ghats, India. Current Science 71: 379–392. Olacaceae Flora of Kerala Flora of Tamil Nadu Endangered plants Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Santalales-stub