Picrasma javanica Bl., Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind.: 248 (1825) (syn: Zanthoxylum javanicum (Blume) Walp.; Brucea dubia Steud.; Picrasma andamanica Kurz; Picrasma napalensis Benn.; Picrasma philippinensis Elmer; Triscaphis kerrii Gagnep.);
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Tropical Asia: Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, East Himalaya, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Is., Sulawesi, Sumatera, Vietnam as per POWO;
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Java, trop. Africa (I), peninsular Malaysia (Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka), Sumatra, Lesser Sunda Isl., Borneo, Philippines, Sulawesi, Moluccas, New Guinea, Solomon Isl., Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Andaman Isl. (Middle Andaman Isl., South Andaman Isl.), Myanmar [Burma] (widespread), Nepal, Bhutan, India (Orissa, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya), Sikkim, Bangladesh as per CoL;
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Scandent shrubs or small trees up to 4 m tall; bark thin, dark brown or black and more or less smooth, fissured, very bitter. Leaves compound, imparipinnate, ca. 8-25 cm long, alternate, spiral; petiolules ca. 3-5 mm long; terminal petiolules ca. 1-3 cm long; petioles ca. 4-6 cm long; leaflets 3-7, opposite, lamina ca. 3-15 x 1-6 cm, oblong-ovate or elliptic or obovate-oblong, cuneate at base, abruptly acuminate at apex, entire or wavy or wrinkled at margins, glabrous; secondary nerves 3-12 pairs. Inflorescences in axillary cymose panicles, ca. 6-20 cm long, bracts obovate, caducous; Flowers 4-merous, ca. 3.5 mm across, dull white; pedicels ca. 8-13 mm long, villous; sepals ca. 1 mm long, glabrous to puberulous, triangular to ovate, acute; petals ca. 2-3 x 1-1.5 mm, ovate-oblong; disk 4-lobed, hairy; stamens 4, ca. 2-5 mm long; filaments short, subulate, hairy; carpels 4; styles ca. 2 mm long. Drupes 1-4, black when ripe, ovoid-subglobose, shining, seated on cushion like disk.
Flowering & Fruiting: May-April.
In primary forests; 1200-1300 m; common.
(Attributions- Ayyappan. N & V. Kokilavani, French Institute of Pondicherry, Compiled from various sources listed in the reference as per India Biodiversity Portal)
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Fwd: For Id from Assam 1 : 4 posts by 1 author. Attachments (2).

Kindly see if these plants could be identified.


To me it seems to be some species of Aralia.


No idea, Sir, leaves seem to be compound, but flowers (picture not clear) do not have staminal tube, so not likely Meliaceae. The tree is not armed … so there perishes the probability of  Zanthoxylum rhetsa.


I might have guessed wrong, leaves might be simple here. In that case, flowers look like Euonymus spp.


The only Euonymus, described in Fl.Br.Ind., comes closer to this one is E. lucidus, but here, in the uploaded pics, leaves are not serrate or even serrulate.

So, please don’t waste time searching Euonymus.

The plant is something else.


Closest I can go is Ligustrum, but did not find match as per comparative images herein.


i would like to suggest a probability, and probability only – nothing more!

It might be Picrasma napalensis Benn. (accepted name P. javanica Blume – POWO)
Flora of China has an illustration of another species (NOT in INDIA) to give an idea of the genus –
http://www.efloras.org/object_page.aspx?

object_id=109694&flora_id=2

Photographic example can be viewed at Qsbg


What do you say ? I agree with …

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Picrasma javanica: 2 high res. images.

Picrasma javanica

Behali Reserve Forest, Biswanath, Assam, India 



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