Byttneria andamanensis Kurz in J. Asiat. Soc. Beng. 40: 47. 1871; Masters in Fl. Brit. India 1: 377. 1874; Parkinson, For. Fl. Andaman 102. 1923.

Scandent or climbing shrubs; stems terete; young shoots sparsely soft puberulous. Leaves 10 - 18 x 8 - 16 cm, broadly ovate, shortly 3 - 5-lobed, lobes, membranous, deeply cordate and 5 - 7-nerved at base, acuminate or acute at apex, irregularly and closely toothed, softly pubescent when young, glabrescent at maturity, puberulous along the nerves; petioles 6 - 16 cm long, glabrous; stipules ca 1.2 cm long, subulate, deciduous. Flowers on slender pedicels in 2 - 3-chotomously branched, slender, minutely puberulous, axillary cymes. Sepals 4 - 5 x 1 mm, ovate, acute, connate at base. Petals 4.5 - 6 mm long with a slender claw and a hooded limb which covers anthers outside the staminal cup; staminodes ovate, acute. Ovary 1 mm long, 5-loculed; styles as long as the ovary. Capsules 2 - 2.4 cm in diam., globose, septicidally 5-valved, glabrous, covered with unequally long stiff spines. Seeds 4 - 5 x 2 - 3 mm, triangular, 1 in each locule.

Distrib. India: Often found near the coasts and along creeks. Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Myanmar.

Notes. The bark yields a mucilage which is used for making hair-wash.

Fl. May - Aug.; Fr. Oct.