Megistostigma burmanicum (Kurz) Airy Shaw in Kew Bull. 23: 119. 1969; Chakrab. & N.P.Balakr. in Rheedea 16: 17, f. 1. 2006. Tragia burmanica Kurz in J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2. Nat. Hist. 42(2): 244. 1873 & Forest Fl. Burma 2: 398. 1877; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 5: 466. 1888.

Large twining shrubs; branches appressed greyish puberulous when young, soon glabrous. Leaves ovate, widely ovate to ovate-oblong, cordate at base, irregularly serrulate towards base and the rest entire along margins, caudate-acuminate to cuspidate-acuminate at apex, (4 -) 7 – 24 x (2.5 -) 4 – 12 cm, chartaceous, puberulous, sparsely setose or strigose to glabrous above, sparsely greyish puberulous or hispid on midrib to glabrous beneath, 3 (- 5)- nerved at base; lateral primary veins ascending about halfway along the lamina; lateral nerves 4 or 5 per side above the basal; petioles 10 – 20 x 1 – 2 mm, sparsely puberulous to glabrous; stipules not seen. Racemes axillary, terminal or leaf-opposed, 8 – 15 cm long with one female flower at base and several male flowers above; peduncles 1.5 – 7 cm long; bracts and bracteoles ovate-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate. Male flowers: pedicels ca 0.5 mm long; bracts ca 2.5 x 1.5 mm; bracteoles ca 1.5 x 0.5 mm; sepals 3, orbicular-ovate to deltoid-ovate, 1.5 – 2 mm across, minutely papillose to glabrous; disc annular; stamens 3; filaments ca 0.3 mm long; anthers broadly obconic, ca 0.3 mm long. Female flowers: pedicels ca 0.5 mm long; bracts ca 4 x 3 mm; bracteoles ca 4 x 2 mm; sepals 6, oblong-lanceolate, 7 – 8 mm x ca 3 mm, accrescent and stellately spreading in fruit; ovary subglobose, 3-lobed, ca 2 x 2.5 mm, densely fulvous hirsute; styles united into a subglobose mass (ca 1 mm across). Fruits depressed, ca 0.8 x 2 – 2.5 cm, deeply 3- lobed, black when dry, ochraceous setose or hispid; fruiting sepals ovate, 1.5 – 2 x ca 1 cm, entire.

Fl. & Fr. March – May.

Distrib. India: Common in tropical evergreen forests, at about 600 m altitude. Nagaland.

Myanmar, China, Thailand and Malaysia.