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Black Currant Tree
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Black Currant Tree
ative Photo: Prashant Awale
Common name: Black Currant Tree • Assamese: Heloch, Mikhan-tenga • Bengali: Khudi-jam, Timtoa • Hindi: Amti, Umtoa • Kannada: Pulimpurase, Pullampurasi • Karbi: Theng-merok-arong • Konkani: Jomdri • Lepcha: Chipli • Malayalam: Cheriyakottam, Cheriyannatam, Tsjeriamcottam • Marathi: Jomdri • Nepali: Chipli • Oriya: Jamula • Sinhala: Buembilla • Sylheti: Tendera • Telugu: Jaana palasheru, Lona, Nallaballi • Urdu: Nuniari
Botanical name: Antidesma ghaesembilla    Family: Phyllanthaceae (Amla family)
Synonyms: Antidesma spicatum, Antidesma pubescens, Antidesma frutescens

Black Currant Tree is a tree, up to 12 m high, bark grey. Leaves are simple, alternate, stipulate. Leaf-stalks are 3-25 mm, slender, velvety, blade 2.5-14 x 1.5-10 cm, oblong, oblong-elliptic, obovate, olmost round or ovate, lateral nerves 3-7 pairs. Flowers are unisexual, reddish-yellow; male flowers: in terminal and axillary much branched spikes. Flower-cluster-stalks are densely brown or rusty woolly; flowers about 1.2 x 1-2 mm, cup-shaped, densely hairy or velvety outside, tepals 5, ovate, pointed, stamens 4-5, 1-2 mm long. Female flowers borne in branch-end and in leaf-axils branched or simple racemes. Flower-cluster-stalks are densely brown or rusty woolly; flower-stalk 0.8-1.5 mm, flowers cup-shaped, 1-1.5 x 1.5-2 mm, tepals 5, elliptic, ovate or linear-oblong, almost free, pointed. Fruit is a drupe 4-6 x 3-5 mm, compressed-round, hairless, reddish-brown or black, alveolate. Black Currant Tree is found in Tropical & Subtropical Asia to N. Australia, including the Himalaya.

Identification credit: Prashant Awale, Shrikant Ingalhalikar Photographed in Rivona, Goa & Dalam Wildlife Sanctuary, Jharkhand.

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