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''Mesua ferrea'' (Ceylon ironwood, Indian rose chestnut, or Cobra's saffron), is a species in the family Calophyllaceae. This slow-growing tree is named after the heaviness and hardness of its timber. It is widely cultivated as an ornamental due to its graceful shape, grayish-green foliage with a beautiful pink to red flush of drooping young leaves, and large, fragrant white flowers. It is native to wet, tropical parts of Sri Lanka, India, southern Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Indochina, the Philippines, Malaysia and Sumatra, where it grows in evergreen forests, especially in river valleys. In the eastern Himalayas and Western Ghats in India it grows up to altitudes of 1500 meters, while in Sri Lanka up to 1000 meters.〔AgroForestryTree Database, entry: (“Mesua ferrea” ). “biotik.org Database, entry (“Mesua ferrea L. – Clusiaceae” ). A.J.G.H. Kostermans “Clusiaceae (Guttiferae)’’ in M. D. Dassanayaka and F. R. Fosberg, eds., ''A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon'', Volume I, New Delhi 1980, pp. 107–110. Ashton M, Gunatilleke S, de Zoysa N, Dassanayake MD, Gunatilleke N, Wijesundera S. (''A Field Guide to the Common Trees and Shrubs of Sri Lanka'' ). Colombo 1997 p. 140.〕 ==Description== The tree can grow over 30 meters tall, often buttressed at the base with a trunk up to 2 meters in diameter. The bark of younger trees has an ash grey color with flaky peelings, while of old trees the bark is dark ash-grey with a red-brown blaze. It has simple, opposite, narrow, oblong to lanceolate, blue-grey to dark green leaves that are 7–15 cm long and 1.5–3.5 cm wide, with a whitish underside. The emerging young leaves are red to yellowish pink and drooping. The branches are slender, terete and glabrous. The bisexual flowers are 4–7.5 cm in diameter, with four white petals and a center of numerous orange yellow stamens. The fruit is an ovoid to globose capsule with 1 to 2 seeds.〔AgroForestryTree Database, entry: "("Mesua ferrea" ). "biotik.org Database, entry (“Mesua ferrea L. – Clusiaceae" )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mesua ferrea」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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