Plant of the Week – Elaeocarpus gadgilii A.M.Maya, V.Suresh & K.M.P.Kumar

Elaeocarpus gadgilii is a recently discovered evergreen tree from Nelliyampathy hills. The tree is characterized by simple leaves loosely crowded towards the brachlet apices. Further, they are unique from rest of the species by reddish – brown sepals with adpressed brown hairs, petals white with pinkish stripes at the base and anthers moderately hairy during anthesis. The tree blooms profusely that makes it easy to spot from the canopy A very small population of this rare tree are found on the Way to Maatumala and have a very narrow distributional range and is endemic to Southern Western Ghats. Green Ahalia is trying to vegetatively propagate the species using different concentrations of rooting hormone, under the ABG project.

For more information: greenahalia@ahhkv.org