Desmos chinensis
Lour., Fl. Cochinch. 1: 352. 1790. Unona discolor Vahl, Symb.
Bot. 2: 63, t. 36. 1791; Hook. f. & Thomson in Fl. Brit. Ind. 1: 59. 1872. U. dunalii Hook.
f. & Thomson, Fl. Ind. 131. 1855.
Tel.: Chilukadudduga.
Shrubs, spreading or sarmentose, up to 3 m tall; young branches subrugose, dark coloured, closely lenticellate, more or less pubescent. Leaves bifarious, oblong-elliptic or oblong-lanceolate, subcordate, rounded or subcuneate at base, bluntly acute to acuminate at apex, 7 - 18 x 3 - 6 cm, glabrous and shiny above, greyish-glaucous beneath; lateral nerves 7 - 12 pairs, faint above, prominent beneath; petioles 3 - 6 mm long. Flowers 8 - 12 cm long, pale yellowish green or cream-coloured, solitary, extra-axillary or leaf-opposed; pedicels slender, 3 - 5 cm long, puberulous or glabrous; bracts placed between the base and the middle of pedicels, linear, acute, 4 - 8 mm long. Sepals 3, free, elliptic-ovate to ovate-lanceolate, obtuse or acute, 5 - 10 x 3 - 4 cm, almost glabrous. Petals 6 (3 + 3), elliptic-lanceolate, narrowed and clawed at base, obtuse at apex, 3 - 5-nerved, glabrous or minutely silky pubescent, greenish yellow, odorous; outer ones 5 - 8 x 1.5 - 2.5 cm; inner ones narrowly lanceolate, 4 - 7 x 1 - 2 cm, glabrous or sparsely appressed pubescent, 5 - 8-veined. Stamens sessile, numerous, oblong, 1 - 1.5 mm long; connectives produced, flat-topped. Carpels sessile, numerous, oblong, 1.5 - 2 mm long, densely pubescent; stigma clavate with U-shaped groove. Ripe carpels many, moniliform with ovoid segments, 2 - 4 cm long, 4 - 5 mm thick, 2 - 6-jointed, with slightly apiculate terminal, fleshy, glabrous or pubescent, 7 - 10 mm long stalk; seeds 1 - 3, shiny, brownish.
Fl. April - June; Fr. July - Oct.
Distrib. India: Tropical or subtropical forests, 300 - 800 m. West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Orissa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala (cultivated).
Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand to China and Malesia.
Notes. A species very variable in shape of leaves and pubescence. The 4 varieties described by Hook. f. & Thomson (l. c.) are difficult to demarcate.
The decoction of root is used for dysentry and vertigo.
Shrubs, spreading or sarmentose, up to 3 m tall; young branches subrugose, dark coloured, closely lenticellate, more or less pubescent. Leaves bifarious, oblong-elliptic or oblong-lanceolate, subcordate, rounded or subcuneate at base, bluntly acute to acuminate at apex, 7 - 18 x 3 - 6 cm, glabrous and shiny above, greyish-glaucous beneath; lateral nerves 7 - 12 pairs, faint above, prominent beneath; petioles 3 - 6 mm long. Flowers 8 - 12 cm long, pale yellowish green or cream-coloured, solitary, extra-axillary or leaf-opposed; pedicels slender, 3 - 5 cm long, puberulous or glabrous; bracts placed between the base and the middle of pedicels, linear, acute, 4 - 8 mm long. Sepals 3, free, elliptic-ovate to ovate-lanceolate, obtuse or acute, 5 - 10 x 3 - 4 cm, almost glabrous. Petals 6 (3 + 3), elliptic-lanceolate, narrowed and clawed at base, obtuse at apex, 3 - 5-nerved, glabrous or minutely silky pubescent, greenish yellow, odorous; outer ones 5 - 8 x 1.5 - 2.5 cm; inner ones narrowly lanceolate, 4 - 7 x 1 - 2 cm, glabrous or sparsely appressed pubescent, 5 - 8-veined. Stamens sessile, numerous, oblong, 1 - 1.5 mm long; connectives produced, flat-topped. Carpels sessile, numerous, oblong, 1.5 - 2 mm long, densely pubescent; stigma clavate with U-shaped groove. Ripe carpels many, moniliform with ovoid segments, 2 - 4 cm long, 4 - 5 mm thick, 2 - 6-jointed, with slightly apiculate terminal, fleshy, glabrous or pubescent, 7 - 10 mm long stalk; seeds 1 - 3, shiny, brownish.
Fl. April - June; Fr. July - Oct.
Distrib. India: Tropical or subtropical forests, 300 - 800 m. West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Orissa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala (cultivated).
Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand to China and Malesia.
Notes. A species very variable in shape of leaves and pubescence. The 4 varieties described by Hook. f. & Thomson (l. c.) are difficult to demarcate.
The decoction of root is used for dysentry and vertigo.
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