Rinorea longiracemosa
Content
Description
Growth apparently in flushes, internodes of largely similar length.
Leaves mostly distichous.
Stipules with broad base, (2-)4-14(-21) mm long, striate, more or less closely appressed, often late caducous.
Inflorescences axillary (sometimes the subtending leaf gone), on the mainland of Asia and in Sabang generally a simple, rather densely-flowered raceme to 9 cm long 1½ cm wide, initially resembling a cone due to the conspicuous bracts which are persistent, in Borneo and Java a lax-flowered panicle to 10 cm long, 3½ cm wide, with an occasional leaf or only stipules subtending the first branches, the bracts less conspicuous, and caducous;
Flower when young conical, the calyx covering the basal half.
Sepals thin, (sub)equal, more or less triangular, surface glabrous or pubescent, margin ciliate.
Petals thin, straight, (2½-)3½-4(-5½) by 1-3 mm, glabrous, sometimes sparsely ciliate.
Ovary mostly glabrous, sometimes sparsely hairy, style glabrous, ovules 6.
Fruit in Asia (few known) globose before dehiscence, 1¼-1½ cm ø with seeds subglobose 4 mm ø, in Borneo (well-known) on woody stalk, glabrous, before dehiscence 3-sided with blunt corners, 2¾-4 cm long, 2½ cm wide, the base not or scarcely narrowed, valves leathery, veined, mostly 2-layered after dehiscence, with woody back;
Seeds to 6 in number, with a circular depression at the place of insertion, and evenly straw-coloured.
Distribution
Asia-Temperate: Hainan (Hainan present), Asia-Tropical: Assam (Assam present); Borneo present (Brunei present, Sabah present, Sarawak present); Cambodia (Cambodia present); India present; Laos (Laos present); Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia present), Blao NE of Saigon present, N off Sumatra present, Perak present, SE. and Peninsular Burma present, Trengganu present, W. Java present, in Siam at 15° N in the West, and further S in the SW and the Peninsula, also in SE. Siam present, near Vientiane present, northern central Kalimantan present
In SE. and Peninsular Burma; Indo-China (Laos: near Vientiane, Cambodia, and Blao NE of Saigon); Hainan (one coll.); in Siam at 15° N in the West, and further S in the SW and the Peninsula, also in SE. Siam. In Malesia in Sabang I. (N off Sumatra), Malay Peninsula (Perak and Trengganu), W. Java, Borneo (northern central Kalimantan, Sarawak, Brunei, and very common in Sabah); scattered in all other regions mentioned.
The sole record from India, Assam, is uncertain, KANJILAL & DAS having “not found it anywhere in this Province”.
The sole record from India, Assam, is uncertain, KANJILAL & DAS having “not found it anywhere in this Province”.
Notes
A shrub, sometimes climbing or sprawling, (½-)1½-4 m, to a treelet or small unbuttressed tree 3-12 m. Leaves light green; calyx (greenish) white, corolla (yellow) white, anthers yellow, the dorsal appendage white with brown base. Fruit green when more or less ripe, to light brown when fully ripe.
The species is very polymorphic and looks different in various parts of its area, but although in Sabah it is both strikingly common and uniform (‘borneensis’), there is not enough reason for the recognition of subspecies. The material from Java (‘gaultheriiflora’) resembles that of Sabah, although the leaves in the former are smaller. The material of R. macropyxis (two out of the four collections outside Sabah) with its domatia, hairy leaves 7-9 cm long, and hairy twigs is unique for Borneo, but agrees quite well with CHEW 63 from Malaya. The Sabah type of inflorescence is also found in SCHMID anno 1961 from Blao in S. Vietnam. Moreover, throughout the area, all the examined flowers have a great mutual resemblance.
The species is very polymorphic and looks different in various parts of its area, but although in Sabah it is both strikingly common and uniform (‘borneensis’), there is not enough reason for the recognition of subspecies. The material from Java (‘gaultheriiflora’) resembles that of Sabah, although the leaves in the former are smaller. The material of R. macropyxis (two out of the four collections outside Sabah) with its domatia, hairy leaves 7-9 cm long, and hairy twigs is unique for Borneo, but agrees quite well with CHEW 63 from Malaya. The Sabah type of inflorescence is also found in SCHMID anno 1961 from Blao in S. Vietnam. Moreover, throughout the area, all the examined flowers have a great mutual resemblance.