Bauhinia pauciflora
Content
Description
Slender, tendrilled climber, young parts rusty pubescent, later glabrous.
Leaves: stip- ules triangular, 3-4 mm long, hirsute, early caducous; petioles slender, 3-6 cm, glabrous to sparsely pubescent; lamina ovate, up to 12 by 8 cm; 9-nerved; bifid 1/2-3/4 with a wide sinus; lobes narrow, triangular, acute, base cordate; upper surface glabrous, lower ± appressed rusty pubescent to almost glabrous.
Inflorescences terminal and lateral few- flowered racemes with rusty pubescent axis, up to 10 cm long; pedicels slender, 20-25 mm, rusty puberulous; bracts narrow triangular, outside thinly pubescent, c. 5 mm; brac- teoles linear, acute, c. 3 mm, inserted about the middle of the pedicel.
Petals white turning yellowish, ovate-oblong, obtuse, 1.5-3 cm long, with a 3-5 mm long claw, sparsely hairy to almost glabrous outside.
Stamens 3 fertile; filaments glabrous, 1.5- 2.5 cm; anthers ellipsoid, c. 5 mm; staminodes 2.7-10 mm.
Ovary appressedly brown silky pubescent, on a short stipe; style ± glabrous; stigma peltate.
Taxonomy
This species apparently is rare and still needs further study to be fully under- stood. Merrill writes that it is closely related to Bauhinia warburgii, i.e. B. integrifolia var. cumingiana; we do not think this is the case, because not only the leaves are differ- ent but also the flower structure differs. De Wit, l.c., in his description cites two speci- mens, one from Prov. Tayabas and one from Rizal. We have hesitatingly emended the description and added a flowering specimen (Lagrimas 608 ) from Prov. Zambas; this plant has smaller floral parts and a more corymbose inflorescence with c. 20 flowers. Further a sterile specimen from Mountain Province, Conklin & Buwaya 1-937 (PNH 79526) probably belongs here.