Balanophora indica
(Arn.) Griff. in Trans. Linn. Soc. London 20: 95. 1846; Hook.f., Fl.
Brit. India 5: 237. 1886; Gamble, Fl. Madras 2(7): 1263. 1925 (repr. ed. 2: 885. 1957). Langsdorffia
indica Arn. in Ann. Nat. Hist. 2: 37. 1838. Balanophora fungosa ssp. indica (Arn.) Hansen in
Dansk Bot. Ark. 28: 100, f. 20. 1972. B. elkinsii Blatt. in J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 33: 309, illus.
1929. B. dioica auct. non R.Br. ex Royle, 1839: sensu Gamble, l. c. 1263. 1925 (repr. ed. 2: 885.
1957).
Plants dioecious (inflorescences unisexual), yellow to orange-yellow or pink, 2 - 26 cm
high; tubers single or sometimes branched from base, subspherical to cylindrical, 5 - 25 cm
wide; stems elongated, covered by scaly leaves. Leaves 10 - 27, spirally arranged, closely
imbricate, elliptic, ovate to suborbicular, slightly cucullate, broad at base, obtuse or truncate at
apex, 2.5 - 3.5 x 1.5 - 2 cm, golden yellow, purple or orange, glabrous. Male flowers: spadices
ovoid, obovoid to ellipsoid or cylindric, 2 - 7 (- 10) x 2 - 6 (- 7) cm, fleshy; flowers (3 -) 4 - 5 (- 6)-
merous, actinomorphic; bracts one for each flower, 5 or 6-angular, truncate, ca 5 x 4 mm; pedicels
7 - 22 x 2 - 4 mm; sepals 4 or 5, oblong-elliptic, cucullate, 7 - 10 x 2.5 - 4 mm, fleshy; synandrium
slightly compressed, obconical, oblong-elliptic, 16 - 22-ridged, 2.5 - 7 x 2 - 4 mm; anthers (3 -) 4
- 5 (- 6), horseshoe-shaped; pollen grains 3-porate, spheroidal, triangular with semicircular
curved aperture membranes in polar view, 10 - 22 ìm in diam. Female flowers: spadices subglobose,
depressed, ellipsoid or obovoid, 1 - 7 x 1 - 5 (- 8) cm, bright red or purple; flowers on main axis of
spadices as well as on cylindrical spadicles; cuticular ridges all over the surface; perianth
absent; largest flowers with pistils 1500 - 1900 μm long; carpels 250 - 500 μm long, 150 - 350 μm
wide.
India, Thailand, Indo-china, Hainan, Malaya, Sumatra, Pacific Islands and Australia
(Queensland), 5 varieties; 4 in India.
KEY TO THE VARIETIES
1 a. Tubers consisting of elongated cylindrical repeatedly branching parts from an entangled mass;
single tubers cylindrical, 9 - 13 mm long; leaves 1.2 - 1.7 cm long, 0.8 - 1.1 cm wide; pedicels
5 - 8 mm long
b. Tubers in a mass apparently shortly branched from one point; single tubers subspherical, 0.5
- 10 cm across; leaves 2 - 3 cm long, 1.5 - 2 cm wide; pedicels 7 - 10 mm long
2
2 a. Single tubers up to 6 cm long and wide; leaves up to 3 cm long and 2 cm wide; female spadices
oblong, obovoid to ellipsoid, 2 - 6 cm long, 1 - 4 cm wide; synandrium up to 2 mm wide
b. Single tubers up to 10 cm long and wide; leaves up to 5 cm long and 3 cm wide; female spadices
globose or subglobose, 4 - 5 cm across; synandrium up to 4 mm wide
3
3 a. Plants 9 - 13 cm high; leaves broadly elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, up to 5 cm long; number of
leaves 10 - 20; male spadices up to 3.5 x 4.5 cm; male bracts 5-angled, 3 - 4 x ca 3 mm
b. Plants 20 - 26 cm high; leaves suborbicular to orbicular, up to 3 cm long; number of leaves
21 - 27; male spadices up to 14 x 7.5 cm; male bracts 6-angled, 7.5 - 13 x 5 - 8 mm
