Tinomiscium petiolare Hook. f. & Thomson, Fl. Ind. 205. 1855 & in Fl. Brit. India 1:97. 1872. T. micranthum Dicls in Engler, Pflanzenr. 46: 119. 1910. T. nicobaricum Balakr.in New Botanist 7:7 - 9, ff. 2 - 7, 1980, p.p.

Woody climbers, up to 30 m long; stems woody with milky latex; branches coarsely striate; young twigs densely hairy. Leaves alternate, ovate to broadly ovate or elliptic, truncate or rounded at base, acute or sometimes shortly caudate-acuminate at apex, 11 - 19.5 x 4.5 - 13 cm, coriaceous, glabrous on both sides; basal nerves 3 - 5, palmate; lateral nerves distal, 2 - 4 pairs; petioles slender, slightly swollen and geniculate at base, 6 - 7.5 cm long. Inflorescences racemose, 8 - 25 cm long, several together on old stems, ferruginous tomentose, rarely glabrous; pedicels 2.5 - 5 mm long, puberulous. Male fowers: Outer sepals 3, triangular-ovate to narrowly triangular, 1 - 2 mm long, glabrous; inner ones 6, elliptic, reflexed at anthesis, 4 - 5 mm long, white to yellow, puberulous; petals broadly elliptic, concave with incurved edges, 2.5 - 3.5 mm long, glabrous; stamens 2 - 2.5 mm long; anthers immersed in the thickened connective or prominent, longitudinally or transversely dehiscing. Female flowers: staminodes linear-oblong, acute, ca 3 mm long; carpels ca 2 mm long, curved-ellipsoid; stigma shortly multilobed. Drupes 3 or 1 or 2 aborted, on discoid carpophore, compressed, ellipsoid, narrowed at base into a short stipe, green, with white spots when young, later white to yellow or orange, with white latex, glabrous; endocarp compressed, narrowly to broadly elliptic to subovate in outline, rounded to obtuse at base, obtuse to sharply acute at apex, 2 - 3.5 x 1 - 2 cm, obscurely to strongly rugose or rugulose.

Fl. & Fr. Aug. - April.

Distrib. India: Mixed inland forests, up to 500 m. Assam and Nicobar Islands.

China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines to New Guinea.

Notes. China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines to New Guinea.

This species is very variable in morphological features like leaf-shape, ornamentations, shape of endocarps etc. T. nicobaricum Balakr. is an incompletely described species as the female inflorescences and fruits were not reported. On a comparative study with the microfiche of syntype of T. petiolare (Wallich Cat. 4964 in CAL) and the specimens of T. nicobaricum, it appears that the male inflorescences belong to T. penolare and the leaves to Fibraurea tinctoria Lour.