Parasponia

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Parasponia

Description

Shrubs to medium-sized trees. Bark grey-brown, smooth to finely fissured; Leaves (in Mal.) triplinerved at base, concolorous, above non-scabrous to variously scabrous, mostly glabrous except for the midrib and lateral nerves, lower surface variously pubescent. Stipules intrapetiolar, connate into a bifurcate unit and together enclosing the terminal bud, caducous. Inflorescences axillary, ♂, ♀, or ♂♀, much-branched, many-flowered, paniculate or thyrsoid, including the bracts densely short greyish appressed-pubescent. Flowers 5-merous. Seed:

Distribution

Asia-Tropical: Jawa (Jawa present); Lesser Sunda Is. (Bali present); Maluku (Maluku present); New Guinea present; Philippines (Philippines present); Sulawesi (Sulawesi present), Banda present, Lesser Sunda Is present, Lombok present, Melanesia present, New Britain present, New Hebrides present, Pacific: Fiji (Fiji present), Palembang present, Polynesia present, S. Sumatra present, Solomons present, Tahiti present, Ternate present
5 spp., in Polynesia (Tahiti) and Melanesia (Fiji, New Hebrides, Solomons); in Malesia: New Guinea (incl. New Britain), Moluccas (Ternate, Banda), Philippines, Celebes, Lesser Sunda Is. (Lombok, Bali), Java, and S. Sumatra (Palembang). , .

Taxonomy

Parasponia is morphologically very similar to Trema but can easily be distinguished from the latter by its imbricate perianth lobes of the male flowers and intrapetiolar, connate stipules enclosing the terminal bud.

Citation

Bl. 1856 – In: Mus. Bot.: 65
Miq. 1859 – In: Fl. Ind. Bat.: 218
HUTCH. 1967 – In: Gen. Fl. Pl.: 149
J. J. SMITH 1910 – In: K. & V., Bijdr. 12: 662
BACK. & BAKH.F. 1965 – In: Fl. Java: 12
ENGL 1888 – In: E. & P., Nat. Pfl. Fam., ed. 3, 1: 65
PLANCH 1873 – In: DC., Prod. 17: 194