Bauhinia monandra
Description
Large shrub or tree up to 15 m.
Leaves: stipules triangular, acute, 3-6 mm long; petiole 3-6 cm; lamina broadly ovate to suborbicular, 7-20 cm in diam.; 11-13-nerved; bifid 1/3-1/2 with narrow sinus; tip of lobes rounded to acute, base cordate to truncate; upper surface glabrous, lower pubescent on the nerves.
Inflorescences short, few-flowered, brownish pubescent racemes; pedicels 10-15 mm, pubescent; bracts lanceolate, c. 10 mm long; bracteoles linear, 3-6 mm long, inserted at the base of the hypanthium.
Petals obovate, 4-5 cm long, gradually tapering towards the short claw; the posterior yellow with large purple spots, the four lateral creamy coloured with pink streaks.
Stamen 1 fertile; filament c. 4 cm long, hairy at the base; anther sagittate, 6 mm long; staminodes 9, c. 3 mm long.
Ovary stipitate, as long as the stamen; style sparsely pubescent; stigma oblique, flattened.
Seeds 10-20, flattened, oblong, black, shining, c. 1 cm diam.
Distribution
widely cultivated in the tropics present
Origin unknown; only known as cultivated. Kurz described the species on a collection of Brandis from Burma. Its closest relatives are found in S America and it may be neotropic. The suggestion that it should have originated from Madagascar has not been confirmed. It is widely cultivated in the tropics on account of its showy flowers; in Malesia grown all over, but not commonly.
Morphology
Some authors report the ovary as minute. We have found some flowers with very small ovaries, others with large ones; this may indicate that some flowers are male, others bisexual.
Citation
Rudd 1991 – In: Fl. Ceylon: 42.
Merr. 1923 – In: Enum. Philipp. Flow. Pl.: 260
Wunderlin, Larsen & Larsen 1987 – In: Biol. Skr. Dan. Vid. Selsk.: 15, 16
de Wit 1956 – In: Reinwardtia: 401
Backer & Bakh. f. 1964 – In: Fl. Java: 532
Baker 1878 – In: Hook, f., Fl. Brit. India 2: 285
Larsen & Larsen 1973 – In: Nat. Hist. Bull. Siam Soc.: 13
Larsen & Larsen 1980 – In: Fl. Camb., Laos & Vietnam: 151
Larsen & Larsen 1984 – In: Fl. Thailand: 6
Backer 1911: Schoolfl. Java: 416
Kurz 1877 – In: Fl. Burma: 395
Prain 1897 – In: J. As. Soc. Beng.: 505
Craib 1928 – In: Fl. Siam. Enum.: 524