Desmos lawii (Hook. f. & Thomson) Safford in Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 39: 506. 1912. Unona lawii Hook. f. & Thomson, Fl. Ind. 132. 1855 & in Fl. Brit. India 1: 59. 1872.

Climbing shrubs, up to 4 m long; young branches slender, pubescent. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, rounded at base, acute to slightly acuminate at apex, 6 - 10 x 2 - 4 cm, glabrescent and shiny above, sparsely to minutely strigose and subglaucous beneath; lateral nerves 7 - 9 pairs; petioles 2 - 3 mm long, pubescent. Flowers solitary, extra-axillary or leaf-opposed, odorous; pedicels 4 - 7 cm long, linear, pubescent; bracts ovate, acute, 4 - 7 x 2 - 3 mm, pubescent below the middle. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, acute, 5 - 7 x 2 - 3 mm, pubescent outside. Petals 6 (3 + 3); outer petals 5 - 6 x 0.5 - 0.7 cm; inner ones smaller, clawed; limb narrowly linear, acute, silky pubescent on both surfaces, thinly coriaceous; claw slightly expanded, granular villous. Stamens numerous, ca 2 mm long; connectives subglobose at top. Carpels many, oblong, ca 2 mm long, densely pubescent; ovules 2 - 3; stigma curved. Ripe carpels many, moniliform, 1 - 3-jointed, with mucronate terminal joint, shortly stalked.

Fl. Feb. - May; Fr. July - Nov.

Distrib. India: Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.

Sri Lanka.