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P.longum
| Botany: | A slender, perennial creeping undershrub rooting at the node, dioecious. Vegetative branches creep and spread on ground,fruiting branches erect, young branches puberculous, hairs minute, multicellular, deciduous, older branches totally glabrous; leaves distinctively dimorphic, those on creeping shot cordate, glabrous, petiole very long, grooved; leaves approximately 7 x 5 cm. Leaves on fruiting branches are oblong, lanceolate, base unequally cordate, with pronounced auricle, tip acuminate, 3-4 pairs of lateral ribs arise right from the base, lower side pedunculous or downy when young, petiole very short or even absent. Spikes cylindric, erect, about 2-4 cm. Long, downy; male spikes much longer, about 6-10 cm. Long, yellow on maturity. Bracts peltate, orbicular, glabrous, pedicellate; flowers laterally fused; stamens 3-4, carpel single, ovary obovate, style absent, stigma 3-4 lobbed, short papillate.Fritallaria type development of embryosac. Fruits very small, fused laterally, spicy and pungent; Seeds very small. Spikes on ripening turns from green to black, deciduous. |
| Keyfeature: | Leaves glabrous | | Distribution: | The origin of the species is believed to be in South Asian Dekkan Peninsula. Distributed in tropical and Subtropical regions of the world below 500 m MSL. Occur I in hotter parts of India from Central Himalayas to Assam, Khasi and Mikir hills and evergreen forests of Western Ghats from Konkan to Travancore |
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