Rudraksha - Utrasum bean tree

Description:

Habita & Habitat: This is typically grows to a height of 40 m (130 ft) and usually has buttress roots at the base of the trunk.

Leaves: leaves are about 60–180 mm (2.4–7.1 in) long, 40–60 mm (1.6–2.4 in) wide with wavy serrations on the edges and tapering to a petiole 5–15 mm (0.20–0.59 in) long, but lacking a pulvinus. Old leaves often turn bright red before falling.

Flowers: Flowers are arranged in racemes up to 100 mm (3.9 in) long, each flower on a pedicel 9–16 mm (0.35–0.63 in) long. The five sepals are 8–11 mm (0.31–0.43 in) long and 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) wide. The five petals are creamy white, egg-shaped to oblong, 12–15 mm (0.47–0.59 in) long and 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) wide, the tip with linear lobes. There are between thirty-five and sixty stamens and the style is 11–18 mm (0.43–0.71 in) long and

glabrous.

Fruits: Fruit is a more or less spherical, bright blue or purple drupe 15–23 mm (0.59–0.91 in) in diameter.

Note: Mature trees will grow massive buttresses which generally completely encircle the base of the trunk. This may be an adaptation to becoming emergents in some habitats, or often growing in secondary woodland – buttress roots can better distribute tensile stress in the base of the tree transmitted down from wind in the crown. In E. angustifolius the buttresses are
thought to develop in response to stresses experienced by the tree during comparatively brief periods of fast development. The buttress wood has a partially different composition than the wood of the trunk.