FoI
Starry Schefflera
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Starry Schefflera
P Native Photo: Anurag Sharma
Common name: Starry Schefflera • Kannada: baddhele • Malayalam: Urumamkai, Kappamaram, Uramkai • Tamil: Pei Maratti • Telugu: ededdula, marri maamidi
Botanical name: Heptapleurum stellatum    Family: Araliaceae (Ivy family)
Synonyms: Schefflera stellata, Hedera terebinthinacea

Starry Schefflera is a straggling shrub. Leaves digitate; leaflets 3-5, 12 x 8 cm, obovate, tip notched or slightly blunt; leaf-stalk 10-15 cm long, sheathing, leaflet-stalk to 5 cm. Flowers are borne in panicles up to 35 cm long; flower-stalks to 0.7 cm long; calyx tube united with ovary forming a rim. Petals are 7-8, 3 x 1.5 cm, triangular; stamens 7-8, filaments 1.5 mm; anthers 1.5 mm; ovary seated in the calyx cup; ovary 7-8 celled. Fruit is spherical. Starry Schefflera is found in Peninsular India and Sri Lanka. Flowering: April-July.
Medicinal uses: In ethnic medicine, Starry Schefflera is used to cure neurological weakness.

Identification credit: Anurag Sharma Photographed in Savandurga, Karnataka.

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