''Magnolia nilagirica'' is a species of

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

in the family

Magnoliaceae The Magnoliaceae () are a flowering plant family, the magnolia family, in the order Magnoliales. It consists of two genera: '' Magnolia'' and ''Liriodendron'' (tulip trees). Unlike most angiosperms, whose flower parts are in whorls (rings), ...

. It is a

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

that is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the Western Ghats of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

(including Agastya Mala, the Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuary, the Anaimalai and Palni Hills, the Nilgiri mountains, and Baba Budangiri), and also

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Description

A large tree; bark is brown with grey highlights and presents a cracked appearance. Leaves measure × and are elliptic with both ends tapering. Flower petals are white, measuring about across;

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s measure between , narrow at their innermost, and ever broader as they approach the outermost perimeter;

carpel Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more ...

s are sessile. Fruits measure in length, with many warty yellow follicles each about long, containing 1 to 2 scarlet seeds.

Botanical classification

''Magnolia nilagirica'' was originally described and published under the name ''Michelia nilagirica'' (the

basionym In the scientific name of organisms, basionym or basyonym means the original name on which a new name is based; the author citation of the new name should include the authors of the basionym in parentheses. The term "basionym" is used in both botan ...

) by Jonathan Carl Zenker (1799–1837) in ''Plantae Indicae, quas in montibus … '', 2: 21, t. 20. 1836. In 2000 it was reclassified under the genus ''Magnolia'' by Richard B. Figlar (In: ''Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Family Magnoliaceae'', 23. 2000. Guangzhou, China).

Ecological vulnerability

Due to this tree's excellent

wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

quality, it is under severe threat of being over-logged. In general, the forests in which it grows are rapidly being harvested, at a faster pace than is needed to allow the forests a chance to regrow; it is estimated that this species in particular has lost 40% of its wild growing population during a period of about 180 years. The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

(2015) has determined that no improvements have been implemented to halt this pace of

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

, and therefore have assessed its status as "vulnerable". IUCN has not determined whether the stands of trees are becoming fragmented from within, or are more or less shrinking in area from the perimeter of their ranges.

Vernacular names

This tree is known by different common names in various languages of India, as shown below: *

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

: ''pila champa'' *

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

: ''kattu shanbagam'' *

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

: ''bana sampige'', ''bili sampige'', ''bilisampage'', ''dodda sampige'' * Telugu: ''tella sampanga'' * Sinhala: ''wanasapu'' *Malayalam: kattuchempakam (കാട്ടുചെമ്പകം)

References

India BiodiversityMicrofungi associationThe Plant List

External links

from IUCN {{Taxonbar, from=Q15603337 nilagirica Flora of the Western Ghats Flora of Sri Lanka Plants described in 1836