Helinus lanceolatus
Brandis, For. Fl. 574. 1874; M. Lawson in Fl.
Brit. India 1: 644. 1875.
Bright green, slender, tendrilar shrubs; tendrils usually near the tips of
branches or sometimes branchlets ending in short simple tendrils; young branches
hairy. Leaves ovate, lanceolate, 1.3-8 .1 x 0.3-3.2 cm, apex acute, rounded
or usually shallowly cordate at base, glabrous above and tomentose below,
membranous, entire, penninerved; lateral nerves 3-5 pairs, secondary nerves
camptodromous; petioles 5-10 mm long, pilose or tomentose; stipules 0.5 -2
x 0.5-1 mm, subulate. Umbels 2-12-flowered. Flowers 4-8 mm across; peduncles
filiform, 1-3.2 cm long; pedicels 4-7 mm long in flowers, 7-15 mm in fruits;
bracteoles 1.2 x 0.5 mm long. Calyx 2.5-4 x 1.5-2 mm, glabrous. Petals 5,
whitish, 2-3 x 0.5-1 mm, inserted on the margin of disc, margin and apex
incurved, enclosing stamens. Stamens 1.5-2.5 mm long; filaments filiform, flat;
anthers dorsifixed. Disc glabrous. Ovules solitary; style 3-fid; stigma lobes
recurved, glabrous. Fruits pendulous, globose to slightly obovoid, 5-10 mm
long, glabrous, reddish-green to dark brown or black when ripe. Seeds 3, 3.5
x 3 mm, plano-convex; testa coriaceous, shining; albumen fleshy; cotyledons
large, flat, obtuse; radicle short.
KEY TO THE VARIETIES
| 1a. Leaves glabrous on both surfaces | 1.1. lanceolatus |
| b. Leaves tomentose below, slightly pubescent above on nerves only | 1.2. tomentella |
