Bauhinia malabarica
Content
Description
Dioecious tree up to 15 m tall.
Leaves: stipules linear-acute, 2-3 mm, very early caducous; petiole glabrous to pubescent, 2-4 cm; lamina ovate to rotundate, 4-12 by 8-16 cm; 9-11-nerved; bifid 1/6-1/3 with wide sinus; tip of lobes rounded, base truncate to cordate; upper surface light green to subglaucous, sparsely pubescent; glaucous (greyish white when dry) and glabrous to pubescent below.
Inflorescences short, simple or few-branched racemes from the leaf- axils, up to 5 cm; bracts very small, triangular; pedicels filiform, 1-2 cm, pubescent, with very reduced bracteoles, inserted variously, c. 1 mm, ± persistent.
Petals white, oblong, c. 10 mm with short claw.
Seeds 10-30, rounded-elliptic, 7 mm in diam., dark brown.
Distribution
northern hemisphere from India through Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam to the Philippines present, southern in Malesia from Java to Timor and in Queensland, Australia present
On the northern hemisphere from India through Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam to the Philippines, on the southern in Malesia from Java to Timor and in Queensland, Australia. It is lacking on the Malay Peninsula.
Taxonomy
We have included var. acida of De Wit or Bauhinia acida of earlier authors in the species as we do not find the characters, mainly based on the leaves, sufficient to maintain a separate taxon. Our experience from field studies shows that there is a clinal variation between populations with glabrous and pubescent leaves; often the latter are most common in the driest areas; var. acida was also established on the character of sour-tasting shoots; this field character has to be reinvestigated.
Citation
Baker 1878 – In: Hook, f., Fl. Brit. India 2: 277
Miq. 1855 – In: Fl. Ind. Bat.: 72.
Roxb. 1832 – In: Fl. Ind., ed. Carey: 321
Larsen & Larsen 1984 – In: Fl. Thail.: 19
K. Heyne 1950: Nutt. Pl. Indon., ed. 3: 737
Ho 1970 – In: Illus. Fl. S. Vietnam, ed. 2: f. 2065.
Quisumb. 1951: Med. Pl. Philipp.: 367
Koord. & Valeton 1895 – In: Bijdr. Booms. Java: 24
Blanco 1878: Fl. Filip., ed. 3: 65: pl. 118 (sub Piliostigma acidum Benth.).
Merr. 1918: Sp. Blanc.: 172
Vidal 1886: Cat. Pl. Pr. Manila: 27
Perkins 1904 – In: Fragm. Fl. Philipp.: 8
Backer 1911: Schoolfl. Java: 416
Gagnep. 1913 – In: Fl. Indo-Chine: 146
Wunderlin, Larsen & Larsen 1987 – In: Biol. Skr. Dan. Vid. Selsk.: 18.
Vidal 1883 – In: Sin. Atlas: pl. 43, f. A.
Larsen & Larsen 1973 – In: Nat. Hist. Bull. Siam Soc.: 12
Backer & Bakh.f 1964 – In: Fl. Java: 533
Larsen & Larsen 1980 – In: Fl. Camb., Laos & Vietnam: 162
Vidal 1886: Rev. Pl. Vase. Filip.: 117
de Wit 1956 – In: Reinwardtia: 531
Craib 1928 – In: Fl. Siam. Enum.: 524
Blanco 1845: Fl. Filip., ed. 2: 230
Miq. 1855 – In: Fl. Ind. Bat.: 73
Meijer Drees 1951 – In: Comm. For. Res. Inst. Bogor: 68
Wight & Arn. 1834: Prodr.: 294, 295