Ternstroemia gymnanthera

Ternstroemia gymnanthera (Wight & Arn.) Bedd., Fl. Sylv. S. India 19, 91 19 1871. (Syn: Adinandra japonica (Thunb.) T. L. Ming; Cleyera dubia Champ. ex Benth.; Cleyera fragrans Champ. ex Benth.; Cleyera gymnanthera Wight & Arn.; Dupinia japonica (Thunb.) Franch.; Hoferia japonica (Thunb.) Franch.; Mokofua japonica (Thunb.) Kuntze; Taonabo japonica (Thunb.) Szyszyl.; Ternstroemia aneura Miq.; Ternstroemia dubia (Champion) Choisy; Ternstroemia fragrans (Champion) Choisy; Ternstroemia japonica (Thunb.) Thunb.; Ternstroemia japonica var. parvifolia Dyer; Ternstroemia japonica f. subserrata (Makino) H.Hara; Ternstroemia lushia Choisy; Ternstroemia mokof Nakai; Ternstroemia parvifolia Hu; Ternstroemia pseudomicrophylla H.T. Chang; Ternstroemia wightii Choisy);                             

China (Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi,
Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang), Taiwan, Japan (Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu), South
Korea, Ryukyu Isl., Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar [Burma], Nepal, Vietnam, Thailand, Sikkim, India (Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, Kerala), Sri
Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh as per Catalogue of Life;

 

English	Japanese Ternstroemia, Japanese Cleyera
Kannada	Kiamonu

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Trees, to 15 m high, bark brown, 1.3 cm thick, smooth or tessellated; branchlets reddish, glabrous, terete. Leaves simple, alternate, often clustered at apices of branchlets, estipulate; petiole 5-25 mm, glabrous, stout, reddish; lamina 4-8 x 1.5-3.5 cm, obovate, oblanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, base cuneate, apex acute or obtuse, retuse, margin entire, slightly revolute, coriaceous, glabrous; lateral nerves 4-5 pairs, pinnate, slender, obscure, intercostae obscure. Flowers unisexual, axillary or extra axillary, solitary, pale yellow, fragrant; pedicels 8-10 mm long, stout, 2-ridged; 2 small ovate bracteoles at the base of calyx; sepals 5, 4-5 x 3-4 mm, broadly ovate to orbicular, coriaceous, glabrous, persistent, connate at the base; petals 5, 6-8 x 5-6 mm, obovate-cuneate, leathery, connate at the base, broadly imbricate; stamens yellow, more than 50, free; filaments adnate to the base of petals; anthers oblong, apiculate; pistillode clavate; ovary superior, 4-5 mm long, 2-3-celled, ovules 2 in each cell; style simple; stigmas 3, sessile. Fruit a berry, ovoid or globose, tipped with persistent style, brown; seeds 3-4, angular, red.

Flowering and fruiting: April-July 

South East Asia and China 

(from  India Biodiversity Portal

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Nilgiris: flower for identification 300613MK02 :  Attachments (3). 6 posts by 5 authors.

It seems to be a Dilleniaceae member ?

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Ternstroemia gymnanthera

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On searching I found that Ternstroemia gymnanthera belongs to family Thecaceae.

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Cultivated plant seen in a park with tender leaves bright red.

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Looking very close to Ternstroemia gymnanthera

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the red leaf stalks are the dx feature for this cleyera. popular in Se USA as a free standing plant or even a hedge. many varieties. this is perhaps “Lee Ann” var. 

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Thanks for the id and letting me know the distinguishing features.

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References:

Catalogue of Life  The Plant List ver. 1.1  GRIN  Annotated checklist of the flowering plants of Nepal  Flora of China  Biotik  India Biodiversity Portal  Forests Plants of Eastern India  By Amal Bhusan Chaudhuri (Description)  NC State University  Oregon State University