Common name: Spinous Kino tree. Tamil Name: Ceemmaram, Malai-venkati
Spinos kino tree is a deciduous tree with pale grey bark which grows to around 20 meters in height. In young trees we can see horizontal spines on the trunk: absent in mature trees. This tree has a straight trunk and branches tend to droop down bearing flowers and fruits. The leaf are arranged in a straight line in an alternate manner, the leaf margin is entire. Between successive leafs there is an open gap of around 5 cm. The leafs are elliptic-spathulate in shape. The leafs talk measure around 1.1 cm, the leaf length measure around 18.5 cm and the leaf across measure around 7 cm. The inflorescence is in the form of an axillary fascicle with unisexual/bisexual flowers. The flowers are small and measure around 7 mm across. The fruit is in the form of a drupe with persistent calyx elements surrounding it. The drupe is initially green, later turn yellow and finally black when fully ripe. It contains one stony seed. Spinos kino tree is native to the Indian subcontinent. It supports a variety of biodiversity and is considered as an important forest tree. It is the larva host plant for Tricolored pied flat, Pointed ciliate blue, Common hedge blue and Indigo flash butterflies.
