Nilgiri Privet is a small tree up to 5 m tall. The
subspecies name perrottetii is in the honour of George Samuel Perrottet
(1793-1870), a Swiss-born, French botanist and horticulturist, who spent
the later part of his life working as a botanist in Pondicherry. Bark is
pale brown, warty, blaze white. Young branchlets are round, minutely
velvety, warty. Oppositely arranged leaves are carried on stalks up to 1
cm long. Leaves are 1.5-5 cm long, 1.2-3.2 cm wide, elliptic to elliptic-
obovate, tip pointed or having a short narrow point. Leaf base is rounded
to flat, margin entire. Midrib is channeled above, secondary nerves are
3-6 pairs. White fragrant flowers are borne in stout, dense panicles.
Fruit is obovoid, about 2 cm long, dark purple, with 1-3 seeds. Nilgiri
Privet is found along margin of semi-evergreen forests up to 2300 m, all
along the Western Ghats. It is also found in Andaman and Laccadive.