Miliusa velutina (Dunal) Hook. f. & Thomson

Miliusa species are shrubs or trees. Leaves simple, alternate, ovate, glabrous to pubescent, membranous. Flowers monoecious or dioecious or rarely polygamous, solitary, fascicled or cymes, extra-axillary or axillary, bracts ovate or obovate, Sepals 3, valvate, Petals 6 in 2 series, valvate in buds, outer petals smaller like sepals, inner petals larger, thinner, first cohering by the margins, ultimately free. Stamens definite or indefinite, anthers globose, extrorse, connectives slightly apiculate rounded on top. Carpels indefinite, linear oblong, style usually short, stigma club shaped, ovules 1-10. Ripe carpels many, ovoid or oblong, stalked or subsessile, Seeds 1-2 or many.

Tree

Flowering class: Dicot Habit: Tree

Flowering and fruiting: December-May

Miliusa species flowers are complete, bisexual, i.e., with functional male (androecium) and female (gynoecium), including stamens, carpels and ovary. Pollination is entomophilous i.e., by insects; sometimes dioecious i.e., plants have male (staminate) flowers on one plant, and female (pistillate) flowers on another plant, or polygamous i.e., with some male flowers on female plants and some female flowers on male plants Flowering/Fruiting: February-May/June-October.

Seeds dispersed by barochory i.e., gravitational dispersal, anemochory i.e., wind dispersal, endozoochory i.e., dispersal by birds and animals internally, epizoochory i.e., dispersal by animals externally, anthropochory i.e., dispersal by humans.

Deciduous tree about 8-11 m tall. Bark dark grayish brown, rough, inside soft dun brown, fibrous, about 1.5-2.5 cm thick, branchlets and other young parts densely grey or golden tomentose. Leaves simple, alternate, variable, broadly ovate, ovate-elliptic, oblong or obovate, 10-30 x 4-12 cm across, slightly asymmetrical, base somewhat cordate, margins entire, apex acute with mucronate tip, sub-coriaceous, aromatic, dark green, velvety tomentose above, paler densely velvety tomentose beneath, later veins about 12-16 on either side of the midrib, slightly arched, petiole stout, tomentose, about 0.2-0.7 cm long. Flowers bisexual, extra-axillary or terminal leaf opposed, pale yellow, about 0.8-1 cm across, pedicels pubescent, about 4-8 cm long, bracts basal, minute, buds velvety. Sepals 3, ovate or somewhat triangular, apex acute, about 2-4 x 1-1.5 mm across. Petals 6 in 2 series, outer petals somewhat similar to the sepals, about 3-4 x 1-1.5 mm across, inner petals larger, broadly ovate, apex subobtuse, pale yellow, dark brown tomentose outside, glabrous inside, about 7-11 x 7 mm across. Stamens many, short, about 1.5 mm long, filaments stout, anthers distinct, extrorse, connectives shortly apiculate on the top. Carpels many, oblong, velutinous, about 2 mm long, stigma subsessile, ovules 2. Ripe carpels many, ovoid or subglobose, tomentose, bluish purple when ripe, about 1.5 x 2.5 cm across, stalks slender about 0.5-1 cm long, Seeds 1-2 on a parietal placenta.

Susceptible to insect pests.

Notes: Western Ghats, Evergreen Forests

Deciduous forests, altitude of about 400-700 m.

Evergreen forests

Decidous forests

Used in folk medicine.