Phacellaria compressa Benth. in Benth. & Hook.f., Gen. Pl. 3 (1): 229. 1880; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 5: 235. 1886. P. wattii Hook.f., l. c. 236. 1886. P. ferruginea W.W.Sm. in Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 10: 188. 1918 (non Hand.-Mazz. 1929).

Semi-parasites, mostly dioecious, rarely with a few female flowers or bisexual flowers on the male plants; stems up to 20 cm long, flattened; tender portions terete, up to 1 mm thick and covered by broad acuminate imbricate bracts of ca 1 x 0.7 mm; prophylls none or indistinct. Flowers: unisexual, each with a distinct involucre of numerous small bracteoles, the first few flowers axillary, the following ones from the axils of bracteoles, inserted on a slight thickening of the stem; bracts imbricate, ovate or obovate, ca 0.8 × 0.5 mm; bracteoles numerous, forming involucre, small. Male flowers: sessile, depressed, up to 2 mm long; perianth obovoid, ca 2 x 1.5 mm; lobes 4 – 6, ; disc flat; stamens alternate with perianth-lobes; filaments flattened. Female flowers: sessile; perianth-lobes 4 – 6; disc at the base, oblong, acuminate; ovary unilocular; style short, fused with the disc; stigma truncate. Drupes ovoid, oblong-ovoid, ovoid-ellipsoid, 4 - 6 × 1.5 - 4 mm, glabrous, crowned by persistent perianth-lobes, glabrous.

Fl. & Fr. Feb. - June.

Distrib. India: Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.

Myanmar, Thailand and China (Yunnan).