Litsea wightiana

Evergreen dioecious trees, to 15 m high, bark surface brown, smooth, lenticellate; lenticels horizontal; branchlets brown pubescent. Leaves simple, alternate, estipulate; petiole 10-20 mm long, stout, brown pubescent; lamina 7-15 x 3-9 cm, obovate or oblong, base acute or rarely obtuse, apex obtuse, margin entire, often recurved, glabrous above, rusty brown pubescent beneath, coriaceous; lateral nerves 4-8 pairs, pinnate, prominent, intercostae scalariform, faint. Flowers unisexual, in axillary racemose umbellules, the whole inflorescence brown pubescent; bracts 5-8, obovate, concave, densely hairy outside, perianth short; lobes 5, oblong, densely fulvous hairy; stamens 12, in 4 rows; filaments hairy, of rows 1 and 2 usually eglandular, those of 3 and 4 with 2-glands; anthers 4-celled, introrse; staminodes in female as the of stamens of males, those of outer rows linear, those of inner rows subulate and 2-glandular; ovary half inferior, enclosed in perianth tube, globose, 1 mm across, 1-celled, ovule 1, pendulous; style thick, stigma dilated, irregularly lobed. Fruit a berry ovoid, seated on the cup shaped perianth tube.

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FOR ID :: Dicots :: The Nilgiris :: Jan 28, 2026 · 3:14 PM IST: 5 images.

FOR ID ::
Dicots

The Nilgiris :: Jan 28, 2026 · 3:14 PM IST
Kodapamund, about 2448 m asl

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Beilschmiedia tirunelvelica Manickam, Murugan, Jothi & Sundaresan ??

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I did some little searching on the internet. I am going to merely copy-paste the information I got.

I think posted plant may not be Beilschmiedia tirunelvelica Manickam, Murugan, Jothi & Sundaresan:

• Bud Morphology: If the buds are velvety-hairy or lack leathery scales, it is likely a different species like  Beilschmiedia.
• Bud Arrangement: If the branch tips lack a distinct, prominent terminal bud and instead show only small, non-scaly axillary buds.
• Leaf Count: B. tirunelvelica typically has 5–7 pairs of nerves, whereas many other Indian species have 10 or more pairs.
• Location: This species is highly endemic to the Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve. If your observation is outside the Tirunelveli or Kanyakumari hills, it is almost certainly not B. tirunelvelica.

Regards.

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Litsea wightiana (Nees) Wall. ex Hook.f.

Many thanks to Arjunan Nanjan | Jeevith S | Utkarsh Ghate for help with the ID … facebook.

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The Plant List  India Biodiversity Portal (Litsea wightiana (Nees) Hook.f. var. tomentosa (Meisner) Gamble)  JSTOR | Global Plants: Filed as Litsea wightiana (Nees) Hook.f. var. tomentosa