''Magnolia nilagirica'' 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 family

Magnoliaceae The Magnoliaceae () are a flowering plant family, the magnolia family, in the order Magnoliales. It consists of two genera: ''Magnolia'' and ''Liriodendron'' (tulip trees). Unlike most angiosperms, whose flower parts are in whorls (rings), the ...

. It is a

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

that is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

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 ...

to 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 ...

(including

Agastya Mala Agastyaarkoodam is one of the peaks in the Western Ghats of Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu, India. This peak is a part of the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve which lies on the border between the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Tirunelveli d ...

, the

Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuary Meghamalai (Tamil: மேகமலை), commonly known as the High Wavy Mountains, is a mountain range located in the Western Ghats in the Theni district near Kumily, Tamil Nadu. It is dotted with cardamom plantations and tea plantations. The ...

, 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 ...

and

Palni Hills The Palani Hills are a mountain range in the southern Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The Palani Hills are an eastward extension of the Western Ghats ranges, which run parallel to the west coast of India. The Palani Hills adjoin the hi ...

, the

Nilgiri mountains The Nilgiri Mountains form part of the Western Ghats in northwestern Tamil Nadu, Southern Karnataka, and eastern Kerala in India. They are located at the trijunction of three states and connect the Western Ghats with the Eastern Ghats. At le ...

, and

Baba Budangiri Baba Budangiri (), also known as Chandradrona (, as the range naturally forms the shape of a crescent moon), is a hill and mountain range in the Western Ghats of India, located in the Chikkamagaluru district of Karnataka. The main peaks in th ...

), and also

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Description

A large tree; bark is brown with grey highlights and presents a cracked appearance. Leaves measure × and are elliptic with both ends tapering. Flower petals are white, measuring about across;

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s measure between , narrow at their innermost, and ever broader as they approach the outermost perimeter;

carpel Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...

s are

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

. Fruits measure in length, with many warty yellow follicles each about long, containing 1 to 2 scarlet seeds.

Botanical classification

''Magnolia nilagirica'' was originally described and published under the name ''Michelia nilagirica'' (the

basionym In the scientific name of organisms, basionym or basyonym means the original name on which a new name is based; the author citation of the new name should include the authors of the basionym in parentheses. The term "basionym" is used in both botan ...

) by Jonathan Carl Zenker (1799–1837) in ''Plantae Indicae, quas in montibus … '', 2: 21, t. 20. 1836. In 2000 it was reclassified under the genus ''Magnolia'' by Richard B. Figlar (In: ''Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Family Magnoliaceae'', 23. 2000. Guangzhou, China).

Ecological vulnerability

Due to this tree's excellent

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...

quality, it is under severe threat of being over-logged. In general, the forests in which it grows are rapidly being harvested, at a faster pace than is needed to allow the forests a chance to regrow; it is estimated that this species in particular has lost 40% of its wild growing population during a period of about 180 years. The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

(2015) has determined that no improvements have been implemented to halt this pace of

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

, and therefore have assessed its status as "vulnerable". IUCN has not determined whether the stands of trees are becoming fragmented from within, or are more or less shrinking in area from the perimeter of their ranges.

Vernacular names

This tree is known by different common names in various languages of India, as shown below: *

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

: ''pila champa'' *

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

: ''kattu shanbagam'' *

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

: ''bana sampige'', ''bili sampige'', ''bilisampage'', ''dodda sampige'' *

Telgu Telugu (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken by Telugu people predominantly living in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is also the official language. It is the most widely spoken member of the Dravidian language fami ...

: ''tella sampanga'' * Sinhala: ''wanasapu'' *Malayalam: kattuchempakam (കാട്ടുചെമ്പകം)

References

India BiodiversityMicrofungi associationThe Plant List

External links

from IUCN {{Taxonbar, from=Q15603337 nilagirica Flora of India (region) Flora of Sri Lanka Plants described in 1836