Bridelia stipularis
(L.) Blume, Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind. 597. 1826; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 5: 270.
1887, p. p.; Prain, Bengal Pl. 2: 928. 1903; Duthie, Fl. Gangetic Plain 2: 87. 1905; Haines, Bot. Bihar
Orissa 2: 120. 1921; Gamble, Fl. Madras 2(7): 1281. 1925 (repr. ed. 2: 896. 1957); Kanjilal et al., Fl.
Assam 4: 147. 1940. Clutia stipularis L., Mant. Pl. 127. 1767. C. scandens Roxb., Pl. Coromandel
2: 39, t. 173. 1802 (as Cluytia). Bridelia scandens (Roxb.) Willd., Sp. Pl. ed. 4, 4: 979. 1806.
Mal.: Cheru-kapanachi, Kottam; Nep.: Khaji, Lahara-gayo, Kasreto; Oudh.: Madlatah,
Undergupa.
Stragglers, scandent shrubs, woody climbers or small trees, 3 - 5 m tall; tomentellous or velutinous. Leaves oblong to elliptic or broadly so to obovate-elliptic, rounded, acute or occasionally subcordate at base, entire to shallowly crenate along margins, acute to apiculate or acuminate at apex, 5 - 20 x 2.5 - 10 cm (the leaves towards tips of branches or subtending inflorescences much smaller, ca 2 x 0.5 cm), chartaceous, sometimes glaucous beneath; lateral nerves 7 - 15 pairs; petioles 4 - 9 mm long; stipules linear-lanceolate or triangular-filiform, 4 - 10x 1- 3 mm. Inflorescences arising on lateral leafy or small-leaved branchlets (up to 30 cm long), also on main leafy branches, unisexual, 10 - 15 mm in diam. Male flowers: pedicels up to 1 mm long, puberulous; calyx 6 - 9 mm in diam.; sepals triangular, 3 - 4.5 x 1.5 - 2.5 mm; petals spathulate, 1 - 2 x 1 - 2 mm; disc flat, ca 4.5 mm in diam.; staminal column ca 2 mm long; filaments ca 1 mm long; anthers ellipsoid, ca 1 mm long; pistillode ovoid, ca 1 mm long. Female flowers: sessile or pedicellate (pedicels up to 1 mm long); calyx 6 - 12 mm in diam.; sepals triangular, 3 - 6 x 2 - 3 mm; petals spathulate or oblanceolate, 1 - 3 x 1 - 2 mm; outer disc flat, 3 - 5.5 mm in diam.; ovary ovoid, 1.5 - 2 x 1.5 - 2 mm, glabrous, 2-locular; styles 1.5 - 2 mm long, with or without a short column at base, bifid above. Fruits ellipsoid, oblong-ellipsoid, oblong, conic, semiterete, subglobose or squarish subglobose, truncate or rounded at apex, 5 - 13 x 5 - 11 mm, slightly to prominently bilobed, 2-locular; pedicels absent or up to 1 mm long; seeds ovoid, dorsally keeled, ventrally sulcate, 6 - 7 x 3 - 5.5 x 2 - 3.5 mm, reddish brown.
Fl. Sept. - Jan.; Fr. Nov. - April.
Distrib. India: Deciduous forests, mixed evergreen forests, sal forests, up to 1200 m altitude, common. Almost throughout the country including Andaman Islands.
Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, S. China, Taiwan, Malay Peninsula, W. Malesia, Philippines to Lesser Sunda Islands.
Notes. Chromosome numbers: 2n = 26 for B. scandens (Kishnappa & Reshme in Taxon 29: 533 - 547. 1980); 2n = 26 for B. stipularis (Datta in Taxon 16: 341 - 350. 1967).
Stragglers, scandent shrubs, woody climbers or small trees, 3 - 5 m tall; tomentellous or velutinous. Leaves oblong to elliptic or broadly so to obovate-elliptic, rounded, acute or occasionally subcordate at base, entire to shallowly crenate along margins, acute to apiculate or acuminate at apex, 5 - 20 x 2.5 - 10 cm (the leaves towards tips of branches or subtending inflorescences much smaller, ca 2 x 0.5 cm), chartaceous, sometimes glaucous beneath; lateral nerves 7 - 15 pairs; petioles 4 - 9 mm long; stipules linear-lanceolate or triangular-filiform, 4 - 10x 1- 3 mm. Inflorescences arising on lateral leafy or small-leaved branchlets (up to 30 cm long), also on main leafy branches, unisexual, 10 - 15 mm in diam. Male flowers: pedicels up to 1 mm long, puberulous; calyx 6 - 9 mm in diam.; sepals triangular, 3 - 4.5 x 1.5 - 2.5 mm; petals spathulate, 1 - 2 x 1 - 2 mm; disc flat, ca 4.5 mm in diam.; staminal column ca 2 mm long; filaments ca 1 mm long; anthers ellipsoid, ca 1 mm long; pistillode ovoid, ca 1 mm long. Female flowers: sessile or pedicellate (pedicels up to 1 mm long); calyx 6 - 12 mm in diam.; sepals triangular, 3 - 6 x 2 - 3 mm; petals spathulate or oblanceolate, 1 - 3 x 1 - 2 mm; outer disc flat, 3 - 5.5 mm in diam.; ovary ovoid, 1.5 - 2 x 1.5 - 2 mm, glabrous, 2-locular; styles 1.5 - 2 mm long, with or without a short column at base, bifid above. Fruits ellipsoid, oblong-ellipsoid, oblong, conic, semiterete, subglobose or squarish subglobose, truncate or rounded at apex, 5 - 13 x 5 - 11 mm, slightly to prominently bilobed, 2-locular; pedicels absent or up to 1 mm long; seeds ovoid, dorsally keeled, ventrally sulcate, 6 - 7 x 3 - 5.5 x 2 - 3.5 mm, reddish brown.
Fl. Sept. - Jan.; Fr. Nov. - April.
Distrib. India: Deciduous forests, mixed evergreen forests, sal forests, up to 1200 m altitude, common. Almost throughout the country including Andaman Islands.
Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, S. China, Taiwan, Malay Peninsula, W. Malesia, Philippines to Lesser Sunda Islands.
Notes. Chromosome numbers: 2n = 26 for B. scandens (Kishnappa & Reshme in Taxon 29: 533 - 547. 1980); 2n = 26 for B. stipularis (Datta in Taxon 16: 341 - 350. 1967).
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