FoI
Western Ghats Gooseberry
Share Foto info
Western Ghats Gooseberry
P Native Photo: Revati Gindi
Common name: Western Ghats Gooseberry • Kannada: Mullu nelli • Malayalam: Uri
Botanical name: Emblica lawii    Family: Phyllanthaceae (Amla family)
Synonyms: Phyllanthus lawii, Phyllanthus nemorum, Phyllanthus polyphyllus

Western Ghats Gooseberry is an erect, hairless shrub. The slender branchlets are up to 12 cm long, 1-3 emerging from a point, with 2 small blunt spines. Leaves are small 4-5 mm long, and 0.8-1 mm wide, closely spaced on the branchlets so that they look like leaflets of a compound leaf. Leaves are linear-oblong, with tip rounded or blunt, with a small sharp point. The base is rounded or heart-shaped. Leaf stalks are negligibly small. Flowers are small, occuring one to few, in fasciles in leaf axils. Flower stalks are 2 mm long. Petals (perianth lobes actually) are 6, in both male and female, 2-3 mm long, white. Stamens are 3, with filaments united at base, anthers erect. Fruit is spherical, 5 mm across, 3-valved. This fruit is must smaller than the Amla fruit. Western Ghats Gooseberry is found in Western Ghats. Flowering: September-November.

Identification credit: Revati Gindi Photographed at Mula River, Pune.

• Is this flower misidentified? If yes,