Desmos dumosus
(Roxb.) Safford in Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 39: 506. 1912. Unona
dumosa Roxb., Fl. Ind. 2: 670. 1832; Hook. f. & Thomson in Fl. Brit. India 1: 59. 1872.
Nep.: Male-lahara.
Woody climbers; stems developing thickened loops and coils; young twigs brown tomentose, glabrous with age. Leaves ovate, oblong-ovate, elliptic-oblanceolate or obovate, subcuneate to rounded or subcordate at base, shortly acute or abruptly acuminate at apex, 8 - 15 x 4 - 7 cm, sparsely pubescent on the midribs and lateral nerves above, glabrous with age, rusty tomentose to pubescent below; petioles 4 - 10 mm long, rufous tomentose. Flowers solitary, terminal or leaf-opposed, pendulous; pedicels 1.5 - 3.5 cm long, tomentose; bracts ovate to linear, basal, subbasal or submedian. Sepals 3, ovate, acute, 7 - 10 x 5 - 6 mm, pubescent. Petals 6 (3 + 3); outer petals narrowed at base, 4 - 7 x 2 - 3.5 cm, yellowish; inner ones slightly smaller, broadly spathulate, slightly clawed at base, 4.5 - 5 x 0.8 - 1 cm, yellowish green, veined, coriaceous, densely pubescent to glabrous. Stamens numerous, oblong, ca 1.5 mm long; connectives flat-topped. Carpels many, ca 1.5 mm long, covered with brown hairs; stigma sessile, curved. Ripe carpels many, moniliform, up to 3 cm long, dark red at maturity, 1 - 4-seeded, pubescent; joints 2 - 3, terminal one apiculate; basal stalks 7 - 10 mm long.
Fl. May - July; Fr. Sep. - Jan.
Distrib. India: Tropical and subtropical forests, up to 800 m. West Bengal, Assam, Tripura and Mizoram.
Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Indochina and Malesia.
Notes. Sikdar (in Geobios 6: 90 - 91. 1979) records this from West Bengal.
Woody climbers; stems developing thickened loops and coils; young twigs brown tomentose, glabrous with age. Leaves ovate, oblong-ovate, elliptic-oblanceolate or obovate, subcuneate to rounded or subcordate at base, shortly acute or abruptly acuminate at apex, 8 - 15 x 4 - 7 cm, sparsely pubescent on the midribs and lateral nerves above, glabrous with age, rusty tomentose to pubescent below; petioles 4 - 10 mm long, rufous tomentose. Flowers solitary, terminal or leaf-opposed, pendulous; pedicels 1.5 - 3.5 cm long, tomentose; bracts ovate to linear, basal, subbasal or submedian. Sepals 3, ovate, acute, 7 - 10 x 5 - 6 mm, pubescent. Petals 6 (3 + 3); outer petals narrowed at base, 4 - 7 x 2 - 3.5 cm, yellowish; inner ones slightly smaller, broadly spathulate, slightly clawed at base, 4.5 - 5 x 0.8 - 1 cm, yellowish green, veined, coriaceous, densely pubescent to glabrous. Stamens numerous, oblong, ca 1.5 mm long; connectives flat-topped. Carpels many, ca 1.5 mm long, covered with brown hairs; stigma sessile, curved. Ripe carpels many, moniliform, up to 3 cm long, dark red at maturity, 1 - 4-seeded, pubescent; joints 2 - 3, terminal one apiculate; basal stalks 7 - 10 mm long.
Fl. May - July; Fr. Sep. - Jan.
Distrib. India: Tropical and subtropical forests, up to 800 m. West Bengal, Assam, Tripura and Mizoram.
Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Indochina and Malesia.
Notes. Sikdar (in Geobios 6: 90 - 91. 1979) records this from West Bengal.
