| Type | Indigenous |
|---|---|
| Family | Malvaceae |
| Local Name | Vellachadachi |
| Habit | Medium sized tree |
| Botanical Features | Trees, to 15 m high, bark 5-6 mm thick, greyish-brown, irregularly flaking off in thin small scales; branchlets terete, stellate pubescent. Leaves simple, alternate, stipulate; stipules free, lateral; petiole 2.5-10 cm long, slender, stellate-tomentose; lamina 5-15 x 4-13 cm, broadly ovate to suborbicular, apex obtuse or acute, margin crenate-dentate or subentire, coriaceous, stellate-tomentose above, velvety beneath; 5-7 nerved from base, palmate, prominent, with a single rasied elliptic nectary at the base of the midrib beneath or 3-nectaries on the principle nerves beneath, lateral nerves 3-4 pairs, pinnate, prominent,. Flowers polygamo-dioecious, white, in axillary and terminal panicles; peduncle stellate-tomentose; pedicel stellate-tomentose; calyx 5-lobed; corolla 1.8 cm across in male flowers, to 1 cm across in female flowers, white; petals 4-5, adnate to the staminal column; ovary superior, 3-locular, ovules 2 in each , glabrous; stigmas large, peltate, minutely hairy; staminode with 3-5 clefted staminal column, each with 2-3 connate, rudimentary anthers at its apex. Fruit a capsule; seeds one in each locule brownish. |