Taxillus tomentosus (B.Heyne ex Roth) Tiegh. in Bull. Soc. Bot. France 42: 256. 1895. Loranthus tomentosus B.Heyne ex Roth, Nov. Pl. Sp. 191. 1821; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 5: 212. 1886. L. gibbosus Talbot, Syst. List Trees, Shrubs Bombay ed. 2, 289. 1902.

Branches rusty abietiform hairy, intermixed with white stellate hairs when young, glabrous when old. Leaves alternate, obovate, oblanceolate or broadly elliptic-ovate, cuneate or sometimes rounded at base, thickened along margins, obtuse at apex, 2.5 - 7 x 1.5 - 3.5 cm, coriaceous, hairy as on branches on both surfaces when young and on upper surface only when old; lateral nerves 3 or 4 pairs; petioles 5 - 10 mm long, cinnamomeous abietiform hairy, mixed with stellate hairs. Inflorescences axillary, reduced dichasia, sessile or shortly peduncled; peduncles solitary or in pairs, each 2 or 3-flowered; flower buds 1 - 1.2 cm long, brown abietiform hairy. Flowers 5- merous, 1.8 - 2.2 cm long; pedicels 2.5 - 3 mm long; bract broadly ovate, 2.5 - 3 x 1.8 - 2 mm. Calyculus 5-toothed, 1.5 - 3 mm long, rusty pubescent. Petals 5, united; tube ventricose at base, with median split up to two-third the length, 1 - 1.3 cm long; lobes 5, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, acute, 3 - 4 mm long. Stamens 5, 1.3 - 1.5 mm long; filaments up to 2 mm long; anthers oblong, 1 - 2 mm long. Ovary subturbinate, 2.5 - 3 mm long; style up to 1.5 cm long; stigma deeply bilobed, papillate. Fruits urceolate, crowned with persistent unevenly toothed calyculus, 8 - 10 x 4 - 4.5 mm, smooth, brown abietiform hairy, mixed with persistent stellate hairs.

Fl. & Fr. Jan. - Aug.

Distrib. India: Western Ghats of peninsular India, up to 1000 m altitude, on a variety of hosts in open forests. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Sri Lanka.

Notes. Mesophyll with abundant sclereids; vessels with lateral perforations, pitting alternate; fibres thick-walled, broadly lumened with reduced pits.

Pollen 3-lobed; P - 24 (25.5) 28 µm; E - 43 ( 49.8) 47 µm; P/E - 0.58 µm; ex. 2 µm; col. 1 µm.