Helixanthera hookeriana (Wight & Arn.) Danser in Bull. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg, Ser. 3, 10: 317. 1929. Loranthus hookerianus Wight & Arn., Prodr. Fl. Ind. Orient. 1: 381. 1834; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 5: 207. 1886.

Branches terete or slightly angled; branches and leaves when young covered with pale brown conchiform hairs, glabrous when old. Leaves alternate, usually opposite when young, elliptic-ovate, attenuating and obtuse at base, undulate along margins, obtuse to acute at apex, 5 - 8 x 2 - 4 cm, coriaceous; lateral nerves 4 or 5 pairs; petioles 5 - 10 mm long. Inflorescences spicate, up to 11 cm long; peduncle solitary, 10 - 15 (- 30)-flowered, articulated, conchiform hairy, 4 - 5 cm long; flower buds clavate, inserted in shallow pits on peduncles. Flowers 4-merous, 5 - 6 mm long; bracts ovate, 1 - 1.5 mm long. Calyculus obscurely 4-lobed. Petals 4, connivent for about half their length, spathulate, oblique, 3.5 - 4.2 mm long, hairy outside. Stamens 4; filaments 2.5 - 3 mm long; anthers oblong, outer pair of thecae longer than inner, 0.5 - 0.7 mm long. Ovary depressed-globose, 1.2 - 1.5 mm long; style ca 4 mm long; stigma capitate, densely granulate. Fruits globose with depressed sides or urceolate with persistent calyculus, smooth, cinnamomeous brown conchiform hairy, 4 - 5 x 2.5 - 3 mm, bluish purple.

Fl. & Fr. Dec. - Sept.

Distrib. India: Found on Mallotus philippensis in hills of Tamil Nadu.

Sri Lanka.

Notes. Mesophyll with abundant sclereids; vessel pittings scalariform; fibres excessively thick-walled, with narrow lumen and simple pits.

Pollen grains triangular, P - 25 (27.9) 33 µm; E - 34 (36.2) 38 µm; P/E - 0.78 µm; ex. 2 µm; col. 1 µm.

Chromosome number: n = 9 (Barlow & Weins, Flinders Univ. S. Austr. Sch. Biol. Bedford Park, S. Austr. 1971).