Paramignya beddomei
Tanaka in J. Bot. 68: 230. 1930; C. Fischer in Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 1872. 1936; K.N. Nair in J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 88: 135. 1991. P. armata auct. non (Thwaites) Oliver 1861: Beddome, Icon. Pl. Ind. Orient. 65. t. 275. 1874(excl. descr.); Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 1: 158. 1915.
Woody climbers, armed with retrorse spines in leaf axils; branchlets often zigzag, cylindric, densely puberulent with adpressed hairs, later becoming glabrous or nearly
so; bark green, smooth or lenticellate. Petioles slender, 8 - 20 mm long, articulated with the leaflet in middle or at base of blade, twisted, puberulent; leaflet blades ovate to ovate-lanceolate, obtuse to broadly rounded, rarely cuneate at base, caudate-acuminate at apex; entire along margins, acumen to 15 mm long; tip bluntish, 3.5 - 9.5 x 1.5 - 4.5 cm, chartaceous to coriaceous, glabrous or occasionally with scattered and adpressed hairs,
beneath; secondary nerves 5 - 10 pairs, prominulent on both surfaces, spreading, reticulate. Bracteoles 2, oblong, minute, thick, thinly hairy abaxially; pedicels slender, 14 - 18 mm long, glandular, glabrous or nearly so. Flowers solitary or rarely in pairs in leaf axils, cylindric in bud, ca 13 mm long. Calyx cupular, ca 2 mm long, profusely glandular abaxially; sepals 5, auricular, obtuse, glabrate, ca 0.5 mm long. Petals 5, white, oblong, obtuse, 12 x 4 mm, glandular, white; midnerve prominent, glabrous. Stamens 10, subequal; filaments linear, subulate above, 4 - 6 mm long, densely pubescent throughout; anthers linear, obtuse, 5 - 6 mm long. Ovary subglobose, ca 2 x 1.5 mm, 5-lobed, glabrous or nearly so, seated on a columnar gynophore; gynophore as long as
ovary; ovary 5-locular; each locule with one ovule; style cylinuric, ca 7 mm long, glandular, glabrous, dilated above ending in a broad, 5-lobed oblate stigma. Fruiting, pedicels 20 - 30 mm long, glabrous. Berries globose, non-apiculate, ca 2 cm, glandular, deep pinkish when ripe, sometimes obscurely 3 - 5-lobed; seeds 3 - 5, compressed, large.
Fl. June - Nov.; Fr. Dec. - July.
Distrib. India: Evergreen forests of the southern W. Ghats, 850-1350 m. Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Sri Lanka.
Notes. Though closely related to P. armata (Thwaites) Oliver, it is a distinct species. In P. armata the branchlets are straight and glabrous, flowers in fascicles of 3 - 8 and medium-sized (up to 10 mm long), calyx lobes triangular, acute, staminal filaments sparsely pubescent up to the middle from base, anthers shorter and berries apiculate.
All earlier reports of P. armata from peninsular India were based on misidentification of P. beddomei only (Nair in J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 88: 135 - 136. 1991):
Fl. June - Nov.; Fr. Dec. - July.
Distrib. India: Evergreen forests of the southern W. Ghats, 850-1350 m. Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Sri Lanka.
Notes. Though closely related to P. armata (Thwaites) Oliver, it is a distinct species. In P. armata the branchlets are straight and glabrous, flowers in fascicles of 3 - 8 and medium-sized (up to 10 mm long), calyx lobes triangular, acute, staminal filaments sparsely pubescent up to the middle from base, anthers shorter and berries apiculate.
All earlier reports of P. armata from peninsular India were based on misidentification of P. beddomei only (Nair in J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 88: 135 - 136. 1991):
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