Herbarium JCB

Firmiana colorata (Roxb.) R.Br.

Family : STERCULIACEAE
Family (As per The Plant List) : Malvaceae
Species : Firmiana colorata
Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Firmiana colorata (Roxb.) R.Br.
Common name : Scarlet Sterculia, Colored Sterculia
Vernacular name : Bilisulige (Kan.)
Collection Nos : KFP 6300, KFP 11150, CJS 18303, CS 18409
Key identification features : A medium size deciduous tree with simple lobed leaves. Inflorescences, which appear after the leaf fall are branched and covered with dense orange-red tomentum. Flowers are unisexual, without petals. Sepals are fused into a tubular structure, which is toothed distally. The calyx tube is coloured and appears like petals (flower apetaous). The fruit wall is open and the developing seeds remain exposed. Usually, five fruits develop from each flower, which are membranaceous and break into leaf-like carpels long before their maturity. Bark light brown with vertical furrows and sharp ridges.
Habit : Tree
Native : India
Comments : The carpels bear wrinkled globose seeds on their margins.
Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
Distribution Locality : Bangalore, Belgaum, Chitradurga, Dakshina Kannada, Hassan, Mysore, Shimoga, Tumkur
Floras referred : Saldanha & Nicolson, 1976 - Hassan; Saldanha, 1984; Ramaswamy & Razi, 1973 - Bangalore; Rao & Razi, 1981 - Mysore; N.P.Singh, 1988- Flora of Eastern Karnataka