Biophytum congestiflorum Govind. in J. Bcon. Tax. Bot. 20(2): 311. f. 1. 1996.

Herbs, large, perennial, up to 100 cm high; stems usually branched, appressedly hairy when young; branches 2 - 6 in pseudo-whorls; leaf-scars many, lunate. Leaves 6 - 10(-12) x 2 - 3 cm; stipules linear-lanceolate, up to 4 mm; leaflets 15 - 22 pairs, falcate, cuspidate, undulate, densely bulbous based hairy on lower surface, margins and midnerve above with a row of bulbous-based hairs, dirty-green above, glaucous beneath; terminal pair of leaflets obovate, asymmetric; intramarginal nerve thick. Inflorescence shorter than leaves; peduncle 4 - 8 cm long. Flowers 10 - 12 in a pseudo-umbel; pedicels shorter than bracts, 15 - 2 mm, glabrous; bracts closely whorled, linear-lanceolate, strigose at margins, 4.5 - 5 mm, membranous. Sepals ovate to lanceolate, 4 - 4.5 x 1 - 1.5 mm, sparsely strigose, 5 - 7-nerved. Petals obovate, rounded at apex, 5.2 - 5.5 x 0.5 - 0.7 mm, yellow, up to 5-nerved. Staminal filaments glabrous, 1 - 1.8 mm long; anthers ca 0.4 mm long. Ovary 5-lobed, ca 0.8 x 0.4 mm, glabrous, ovules (2-) 4 per locule; styles puberulous, ca 2.6 mm long; stigma discoid. Fruits turbinate, ca 2.5 x 2 mm; seeds 2 - 4 per locule, broadly ovoid, acute, 0.6 - 0.8 x 0.6 - 0.7 mm, with undulate, oblique and muricate ridges, shining, reddish-brown.

Distrib. India: Sheltered places in W. Ghats, Kerala.

Endemic.