Premna serratifolia L.

Habit: Small tree/shrub

Trees, to 7 m high. Leaves simple, opposite, estipulate; petiole 4-14 mm, slender, pubescent, grooved above; lamina 2.5-8.5 x 2-7.2 cm, elliptic, elliptic-oblong, base acute, obtuse, subcordate or rounded, apex acuminate, mucronate, obtuse, margin entire or subserrate, glabrous above except along the appressed midrib, chartaceous; lateral nerves 3-5 pair, pinnate, prominent, puberulous beneath; intercostae reticulate, obscure. Flowers bisexual, greenish-white, in terminal corymbose panicled cymes; bracts small; calyx small campanulate, 2 lipped, 5 lobed; corolla tube short, villous inside, lobes 5; stamens 4, didynamous, inserted below the throat of the corolla tube; anther ovate; ovary superior, 2-4-celled, ovules 4; style linear; stigma shortly bifid. Fruit a drupe, seated on the calyx, globose, purple; seeds oblong.

Tree about 20-30 ft tall. Bark grayish brown, branches and branchlets obtusely quadrangular, slightly pubescent and glabrous when mature. Leaves simple opposite, oblong-ovate or ovate-elliptic, 6-18 x 3-6.5 cm across, base rounded or obtuse, margins entire or slightly undulate, apex shallow acuminate, chartaceous, dark green glabrous above, slightly paler, pubescent on the veins beneath, lateral veins 5-7 on either side of the midvein, veins arcuate at margins impressed above and prominent beneath, petiole slender, stout, canaliculated about 2-4 cm long, exstipulate. Inflorescence terminal corymbs, dichotomously branched, composed of 4-8 decussate opposite cymes, pubescent, about 4-11 x 5-16 cm across, peduncles pubescent, obtusely quadrangular, about 1-4 cm long, bracts linear lanceolate, about 1 cm long, bractlets linear about 5 mm long, Flowers numberous, bisexual, zygomorphic, pedicels about 1 mm long, calyx cupular, 5 toothed, 2 lipped, about 2 x 2 mm across, teeth acute, slightly pubescent outside, corolla infundibular, 4 lobed, 2 lipped, lobes subequal, oblong, obtuse about 2 mm long, glabrous outside, greenish white, corolla tube about 3 x 2 mm across, densely pubescent in the throat, stamens 4, didynamous, filaments glabrous, filiform, glabrous, about 3-4 mm long, anthers globose, 2 loculed, divaricate, ovary obovoid, about 1 mm across, style filiform, about 5 mm long, stigma bi-lobed, Fruit drupaceous, succulent, subglobose, obscurely verrucose, 2-3 mm in diameter, green and purplish black when ripe, fruiting calyx saucer shaped, membranous.

Maharashtra: Pune, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Thane Kerala: Kannur, Kottayam Tamil Nadu: Cuddalore, Ramanathapuram, Thanjavur ,Viluppuram

India: Assam