Dimorphocalyx beddomei (Benth.) Airy Shaw in Kew Bull. 23: 124. 1969 & 27: 92. 1972, emend. A.N.Henry et al. in Indian J. Forest. 5: 249. 1982. Tritaxis beddomei ('beddomi') Benth. in J. Linn. Soc. Bot. 17: 221. 1878; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 5: 384. 1887. Trigonostemon beddomei (Benth.) N.P.Balakr. in Bull. Bot. Surv. India 10: 245. 1968 (1969). Dimorphocalyx glabellus sec. N.C.Nair & P. Bhargavan in Indian J. Forest. 4: 158. 1981, pro parte, tantum quoad specim. Bhargavan 47484 (non Thwaites 1864).

Shrubs or trees, up to 4 m tall, dioecious or sometimes monoecious, entirely glabrous. Leaves elliptic to oblong or elliptic-lanceolate, rounded, obtuse, acute to cuneate at base, minutely glandular-toothed or shallowly sinuate to subentire along margins, acuminate or subacute at apex, 5 - 18 (- 22) x 2 - 6 (- 7.5) cm, thinly coriaceous; lateral nerves 7 - 12 pairs (the first pair shorter and weaker than subsequent pairs); petioles 5 - 15 mm long. Male inflorescences axillary (or often ramiflorous?), dichasially branched, up to 4.5 cm long, shortly pedunculate; flowers 4 - 6 mm across; pedicels ca 1.2 x 0.7 mm; calyx shallowly lobed; lobes suborbicular, ca 1 mm long; petals 5, narrowly oblong, 5 - 6 x 1.6 - 3 mm; disc glands 5, triangular-oblong to linearsubulate, ca 1 x 0.3 mm; stamens 5 + 3; outer filaments ca 4 mm long; inner united in ca 5 mm long column; anthers broadly oblong, ca 1 mm long. Female inflorescences terminal, also terminating the short lateral fertile shoots bearing 2 or 3 immature leaves, up to 5 cm long, few-flowered, often solitary, paired or 3-flowered (umbellate), sometimes shortly ca 1 cm long pedunculate; bracts deltoid, 1 - 1.5 x 1.5 - 1.8 mm; flowers 9 - 11 mm across; pedicels 3 - 4 x 0.5 - 1.5 mm; sepals oblong to obovate-oblong, 5 - 6 x 3.5 - 4 mm; petals oblong to spathulate, 5 - 6 x 2.5 - 3 mm; disc glands connate in an annular ring; ovary globose, ca 2 mm in diam., glabrous; styles 3, each bifid, 2 - 3 mm long; stigmas simple. Fruits subglobose, depressed, 11 - 13 x 16 - 18 mm; fruiting sepals up to 15 x 13 mm; seeds obtusely trigonous, ca 8 x 7 mm, mottled, marbled.

Fl. & Fr. May - Oct.

Distrib. India: Evergreen forests of southern Western Ghats, at 850 - 1000 m altitudes. Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Endemic.