FoI
Leikham
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Leikham
P Native Photo: Rejoice Gassah
Common name: Leikham • Chinese: 皱叶哥纳香 Zhou Ye Ge Na Xiang • Khasi: Skum-synsar, Soh-um-synrang • Lushai: Kham • Manipuri: ꯂꯩꯈꯥꯝ Leikham • Nepali: Sane
Botanical name: Goniothalamus sesquipedalis    Family: Annonaceae (Sugar-apple family)
Synonyms: Guatteria sesquipedalis, Uvaria sesquipedalis

Leikham is a hairless shrub with leaves linear-oblong or lanceshaped, narrow or wedge-shaped at base, abruptly and bluntly tapering at tip, 20-40 x 4.5-10.5 cm, leathery, hairless, pellucid-dotted; lateral nerves 16-20 pairs, impressed above, interarching 5 -8 mm from recurved margin; leaf-stalks 1-.5 cm long. Flowers arise singly in leaf-axils, greenish yellow, carried on flower-stalks 3-5 mm long. Petals are 6 (3 + 3); outer petals ovate-lanceshaped, 12-20 x 3-5 mm, inner petals shortly clawed and free in lower part, cohering and forming an ovate-tapering cone at tip, 10-14 x 4-5 mm, velvet-hairy. Stamens are many, about 1.5 mm long; connectives peltate ait top. Bracts are 2 - 6 at the base of flower-stalks, 2-4 mm long. Sepals are 3, free, ovate, pointed, 5-8 x 4 - 6 mm, thin, finely velvet-hairy, persistent. Ripe carpels are few, ovoid, pointed-with a short sharp point at tip, 1.7-2.5 x 1 cm, granular, orange-red when mature; stalk short, about 1.5 mm long, with persistent sepals at tip. Seed 1 in each carpel. Leikham is found in subtropical forests, at altitudes of 300-1200 m in NE India to Myanmar and China. Flowering: April-June.
Medicinal uses: In Manipur, boiled extract of leaves is used as bath for a new born child.

Identification credit: Yunhong Tan Photographed in Karimganj, Assam & E. Kameng district, Arunachal Pradesh.

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