''Vatica chinensis'' is a species of flowering tree in the family

Dipterocarpaceae Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus ''Dipterocarpus'', is derived from Greek (''di'' = two, ''pteron'' = wing and ''karpos'' = fru ...

, found in South Asia.

Distribution

The tree is native to the Western Ghats range in

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

and

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

states of southern

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 ...

; and historically to

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 ...

, where it is either extremely rare or possibly

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

. It is an

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

Critically endangered species. It is part of the South Western Ghats montane rain forests ecoregion flora.

Description

''Vatica chinensis'' is a tropical evergreen tree, growing to in height.India biodiversity portal: ''Vatica chinensis'' report
by Dr. N Sasidharan (Dr. B P Pal Fellow), Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi. Its trunk bole is buttressed, pale green smooth bark. The exudation is resinous. Leaves are simple, alternate; stipules small, fugacious; petiole 20–50 mm long, stout, glabrous; lamina 9-25 x 3–11 cm, ovate or oblong, base obtuse or broadly cuneate, apex obtusely acute, margin entire, coriaceous, glabrous; lateral nerves 10-14 pairs, parallel, prominent, intercostae scalariform, prominent. Flowers are bisexual, white, in axillary spreading panicles; pedicels 5-ribbed; ribs alternating with sepals; calyx tube very short, adnate to the base of the ovary; lobes 5, ovoid-deltoid, acute, pubescent; petals 5, white, oblong; stamens 15 in 2 rows; filaments short, flattened at base; anthers oblong, shortly apiculate; ovary superior, covered with large shallow pits, lepidote, 3-celled, ovules 2 in each cell; style about as long as ovary, ribbed; stigmas densely papillose, obscurely 3-lobed. Fruits are a capsule, lepidote, subglobose shortly pointed with 3 obscure, loculicidal furrows, puberulous; pericarp coriaceous; calyx persistent.Vatica roxburghiana (Wight) Blume, Mus. Bot. Lugd.-Bat. 2: 31, t.1849; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 302. 1874. (syn: ''Vatica chinensis'') Vatica chinensis-2

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3012161 chinensis Flora of Karnataka Flora of Kerala Flora of Sri Lanka South Western Ghats montane rain forests Critically endangered flora of Asia Taxonomy articles created by Polbot