Saraca tubiflora

Primary tabs

Saraca tubiflora

Description

Shrub 1 m tall. Leaves 2-4-jugate, subsessile, (petiole and) rachis 4-16.5 cm long. Inflorescences 7-9 cm wide, bracts and bracteoles ovate or triangular, 2-3 mm long, glabrous except the margin minutely fimbriate, persistent, the bracteoles spreading or sometimes erecto-patent and more or less clasping the pedicel; pedicels 10-17 mm, the length between bracteoles and flower 4-6 mm. Flowers yellowish red to dark red, articulated at the base, glabrous except minutely fimbriate on the margin of the calyx lobes. Stamens 4, rarely 5; staminodes absent; filaments 21-25 mm, dilated and united at the base; anthers not seen.

Distribution

Asia-Tropical, Barisan Range present
Malesia: W Sumatra (Barisan Range). Known only from the type collection.

Morphology

De Wilde (l.c.: p. 427) stated that there are 13 flowers available on the type and most of them are completely male. I dissected three flowers; the vestigial ovary in two of them contains 11 rudimentary ovules and the other 9. This species is characterized by 1) the axillary, rather compact inflorescence which consists of 2 or 3 fasciculate, racemose branches, each about 3 cm long (excluding the flowers) bearing c. 10 flowers, and 2) the large flowers with the longest tube (55-70 mm long) in the genus.