Adenia penangiana

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Adenia penangiana

Description

Climber or creeper to 6 m, with tuberous root-stock. Plants dioecious or monoecious. Leaves herbaceous to coriaceous, entire, ovate-elliptic to linear, top acute, up to 2 cm acuminate, base rounded, rarely subacute, (1½-)2-16 by (¼-½-7½ cm, pinninerved; Fruit 1, ellipsoid to oblong, top obtuse to subacute, excluding the 2-25 mm long gynophore (1¾-)2-5½(-6) by 1¼-3 cm; Seeds (3-)5-15 subglobular or flattened or sub-triangular, 5-11 by 5-11 by 3-4 mm, smooth or grooved or variously pitted;

Distribution

Asia-Tropical: Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia present); Sumatera (Sumatera present), Nicobar Is present, Peninsular Thailand present
Nicobar Is., Peninsular Thailand, in Malesia: Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. .

Notes

Beside inflorescences in the axils of normals leaves sometimes (sub)sessile inflorescences arranged in short-shoots are found. These short-shoots develop from the serial bud in the axils of the sterile tendrils, and later on often grow through into normal shoots.
Sometimes monoecious specimens with ♂ and ♀ flowers in different inflorescences are found in var. parvifolia.
A variable species in which arbitrarily two varieties are recognized; most of the specimens from limestone in Peninsular Thailand belong to var. parvifolia.