Balanophora fungosa J.R.Forst. & G.Forst., Char. Gen. Pl. 99, t. 50. 1775; Hansen in Dansk Bot. Ark. 28: 100, f. 19. 1972.

Plants monoecious (inflorescence bisexual), pale yellow to orange-yellow or brown, sometimes with pinkish tinge, 6 - 12 cm high from point of fusion or in a mass, 10 - 15 cm wide, branching from base; single tuber subspherical or depressed, ca 1.5 x 2.5 cm, granular with stellate warts on surface; stems 2.5 - 11 cm long. Leaves 15 - 30, spirally arranged, rarely subopposite, imbricate, obtuse, slightly cucullate, 2 - 3 x 1.5 - 2 cm. Male flowers: 2 - 20 in 0.5 - 1 cm high zone just below the female part of spadices, 4 or 5-merous, actinomorphic; bracts truncate, rudimentary, 1 - 2 mm long; pedicels 3 - 7 mm long; tepals ovate-elliptic; synandrium ovoid to ellipsoid, slightly compressed, elevated on 0.5 - 1 mm long torus; anthers 4 or 5, horseshoe-shaped. Female flowers: many on main axis and a few also on lower part of spadicles; spadices ovoid or subspherical, 1 - 3.5 x 1.5 - 3 cm; spadicles 1100 - 1150 ìm long, or with a cylindrical 100 μm wide lower part and an obconical 170 - 240 μm wide upper part; cuticular ridges of top cells small and inconspicuous, present only where cells border each other; largest female flowers with ca 1250 μm long pistils; carpels ca 400 μm long.

Fl. & Fr. June - Jan.

Distrib. India: Dense primary rain forests, up to 1000 m. Manipur

China, Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Indonesia, Philippines, New Guinea, NE. Australia and Pacific Islands.

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