Tetrastigma rumicispermum (M. Lawson) Planchon in DC., Monogr. Phan. 5: 429. 1887. Vitis rumicisperma M. Lawson in Pl. Brit. India 1: 661. 1875. Tetrastigma pyrriforme Gagnepain in Bull. Soc. Bot. France 91: 35. 1944. T. corymbosum Long in Edinb. J. Bot. 47 (3): 358. 1990.

Climbing shrubs; branches terete, usually with corky warts and tubercles; tendrils forked. Leaves 5-foliolate, coriaceous, glabrous; petioles 4-10 cm long; terminal leaflets obovate or oblanceolate, 5-13 x 2-5 cm, acuminate at apex, acute or cuneate at base, sharp-serrate at margins, with ca 12 pairs of lateral nerves; petiolules 1-1.5 cm long; lateral leaflets 4-9 x 2-4 cm, slightly oblique at base, otherwise as in terminal leaflets; petiolules 0.2-1 cm long. Inflorescences spreading, subcorymbose cymes, 5-11 cm long; peduncles up to 5 cm long. Flowers ca 1.2 mm long; pedicels ca 1 mm long, pubescent. Calyx cupular, membranous, 4-lobed. Petals oblong, ca 1 x 0.7 mm, slightly hooked, pubescent. Stamens ca 1.5 mm long; anthers oblong. Disc membranousl enclosing base of ovary. Ovary conical, ca 1 mm across; style conspicuous; stigma 4-lobed. Berries turbinate globose, ca 1 cm across, reddish black, 1-4-seeded. Seeds traingular-obcordate, 5-7 x 4-5.5 mm; adaxial surface with a sharply ridged raphe and two fine grooves radiating at an angle on either side of the ridge; abaxial surface with an oblong chalaza in a shallow groove, rugose.

Fl. & Fr. : May - Sept.

Distrib. India : West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Meghalaya.

Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Malesia.

Notes. This species can be easily distinguished by the turbinate-globose berries and broadly triangular-obcordate seeds.

Chromosome number 2n=52 [Eichhorn, A in C.R. Acad. Sci. (Paris) 206. 1266-1268. 1938].

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