''Bhesa indica'' is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

tree species in the Centroplacaceae family. It is distributed along the tropical wet evergreen forests of the Western Ghats of

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 ...

.Ding Hou, 1958
A conspectus of the genus Bhesa (Celastraceae).
''Blumea'' 4: 149–153. It is considered synonymous with '' Bhesa paniculata'' by some authors.

Taxonomy

''Bhesa indica'' has been considered as synonymous with ''Trochisandra indica'', ''Kurrimia bipartita'', ''Kurrimia indica'', and ''Kurrimia paniculata''. Other authors have distinguished Indian from Malayan species. Brandis noted that ''Trochisandra indica'' Bedd., reported from 3–6,000 feet in the Anamalai hills of the Western Ghats, should be referred to the southern Indian species, ''Kurrimia bipartita'' Lawson, instead of the Malayan species, ''K. paniculata'' Wall., as quoted by Lawson. The two species were also distinguished by Ding Hou on the basis of flower and fruit characters. The flowers of the two species differ in that ''Bhesa paniculata'' has solitary, paniculate inflorescence with deeply 5-lobed disk, extrorse anthers, and ovary with a tuft of hairs on top. ''B. indica'' has disk entire, anthers introrse, and glabrous ovary. In fruits, both species are characterized by

paniculate A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

infructescence Infructescence (fruiting head) is defined as the ensemble of fruits derived from the ovaries of an inflorescence. It usually retains the size and structure of the inflorescence. In some cases, infructescences are similar in appearance to simple fru ...

and 2-lobed fruits with distinct

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

, but the fruits are obovoid or cordate, 1-1.75 (up to 2) cm long and acute to attenuate at the base in ''B. paniculata'', and oblong, 2.5–3 cm long and obtuse at the base in ''B. indica''.

Distribution

Considered together ''Bhesa indica'' and ''Bhesa paniculata'' are distributed in parts of southern India, Thailand, Malay peninsula, Indonesia, Borneo, and the Philippines. ''Bhesa indica'' is known from southern India, mainly from the Western Ghats, while ''B. paniculata'' extends also into parts of south-east Asia. ''Bhesa indica'' occurs along the Western Ghats from the Agasthyamalai hills in the south to the

Anaimalai Anaimalai is a taluk in Coimbatore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Agricultural day work is the main occupation. Paddy, banana, sugarcane and other crops are grown in the area. Anaimalai is a pilgrimage spot, due to the worship o ...

hills in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, mainly in the evergreen forests from around 900 m to 1800 m.

Characteristics

Evergreen trees of mature forest growing up to 30 m tall, with smooth, grey-brown bark. The branchlets are stout and cylindrical and carry scars of fallen leaves and

stipule In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). Stipules are considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many speci ...

s. The leaves are simple, alternate and clustered at twig ends, with large stipules up to 2.5 cm long that are caducous (lost through dehiscence). The petiole is 2.5 cm to 4.5 cm long, swollen at the base and tip and attached to a leaf that is 10–18 cm long and 4.5-8.5 cm wide, elliptic-oblong to narrow-ovate in shape. The leaf apex is obtusely acute or short acuminate and the leaf base is rounded. The leaves are leathery, shining above and below, darker green above and paler below, and

hairless Hairless, also known as H, is a well-characterized Drosophila gene. Since Hairless is a dominant loss of function mutation, many mutations to Hairless are embryonic lethal, but there are several viable hairless mutants. This specific Drosophila ...

. The leaves have 11 to 20 pairs of distinct secondary nerves (raised beneath, parallel, and oblique to midrib), with fine parallel and percurrent tertiary nerves. The inflorescence is at the ends of branches formed as

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

s. The flowers are small and white. The fruit is a capsule, red, and prominently 2-lobed. The fruit contains a single seed per lobe.

Gallery

File:Bhesa indica leaves fruits seeds.jpg, Bhesa indica leaves, fruits, and seeds File:Bhesa indica seedling SUS.tif, Bhesa indica seedling germinating File:Bhesa indica DSCN3078.jpg, Bhesa indica fruiting branch File:Bhesa indica from southern Western Ghats.jpg, Leaves and branches

Ecology

The tree is mostly restricted to mature evergreen forests in the Western Ghats, more common at elevations above 1000 m and less abundant in forest fragments. It is considered a species of relatively narrow ecological amplitude and a characteristic species of an identified high elevation (1400 – 1800 m) wet evergreen forest type called the ''Bhesa indica'' – ''Gomphandra coriacea'' – ''Litsea spp.'' Type in the southern Western Ghats. The fruits of ''Bhesa indica'' are dispersed by

fruit bats In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particula ...

and possibly other mammals such as macaques as in the case of other ''Bhesa'' species in south-east Asia and Sri Lanka. The seeds are recalcitrant, losing viability rapidly on drying (seed germination decreasing from 77% to 13% in a month).

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13522702 Flora of India (region) indica Plants described in 1958