Sauropus compressus
Müll.Arg. in DC., Prodr. 15(2): 243. 1866; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India
5: 336. 1887; Chakrab. & M.Gangop. in J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 20: 526, f. 4. 1996. S. quadrangularis
(Willd.) Müll.Arg. var. compressus (Müll.Arg.) Airy Shaw in Kew Bull. 26: 337. 1972. S. varieri
Sivar. & Indu Balach. in J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 5: 918. 1984 (as ‘varierii’). S. quadrangularis auct.
non (Willd.) Müll.Arg. 1866: Kurz, Forest Fl. Burma 2: 350. 1877.
Herbs or shrubs, 0.2 - 3 m high, entirely glabrous or puberulous to pubescent; branchlets
compressed, 4-angled, or rarely semiterete; leaf-bearing branchlets 3 - 10 cm long. Leaves
narrowly to broadly elliptic, oblong to suborbicular or ovate, obovate to obovate-elliptic or
orbicular-obovate, acute, obtuse, rounded, subtruncate or often cuneate at base, acute, obtuse
rounded or emarginate and sometimes mucronate at apex, 8 - 30 (- 40) x 3 - 20 (- 30) mm, usually
membranous, often chartaceous, sometimes glaucous beneath, entirely glabrous or sparsely
appressed greyish puberulous to pilose; lateral nerves 3 - 6 pairs; petioles 1 - 1.5 (- 2.5) mm long,
glabrous or puberulous; stipules triangular to linear-lanceolate, up to 2 mm long. Male flowers:
pedicels 2 - 6 mm long; calyx flat, star-shaped, 2 - 3.5 mm in diam.; segments 6, flabellate,
suborbicular or squarish, emarginate-truncate to deeply bilobulate (lobules rounded to subacute),
in the latter case the calyx appearing more or less equally 12-lobed; anthers ca 0.4 mm long,
horizontal. Female flowers: pedicels 1 - 3 mm long; calyx cupular or flat, 4 - 5 mm in diam.;
segments free, the outer obovate, flabellate to suborbicular, 1.5 - 2 x 1 - 3 mm, rounded, emarginate
or truncate at apex, the inner deltoid, orbicular or reniform, 1 - 1.5 x 0.5 - 2 mm; ovary turbinate,
ca 0.5 x 1 mm; styles up to 1.5 mm long, bifid, horizontal. Fruits somewhat depressed or
subglobose, 4 - 5 x 6 - 8 mm, thin-walled; pedicels 2 - 3 x ca 0.5 mm; calyx up to 8 mm in diam.;
segments up to 4 x 4.5 mm.
Distrib. Western and Eastern Himalayas to Myanmar, S. China, Indo-china and Thailand.
Distrib. Western and Eastern Himalayas to Myanmar, S. China, Indo-china and Thailand.
KEY TO THE VARIETIES
| 1a. Plants glabrous | 4.1. compressus |
| b. Plants pubescent or puberulous | 4.2. puberulus |
