Flora of Thailand
Euphorbiaceae
|
|
|
|
Goto on this page:
Airy Shaw, Kew Bull. 23: 40. 1969; Kew Bull. 26: 232. 1972; G.L.Webster in Kubitzki, Fam. Gen. Vasc. Pl. 11: 74. 2014.
Shrubs to trees, monoecious. Indumentum of simple, more or less patent hairs. Stipules late caducous to persistent. Leaves alternate, distichous, simple; petiole reniform, not pulvinate; blade papery, margin entire, upper surface glabrous; venation pinnate, nerves looped and closed near margin, veins and veinlets reticulate, indistinct. Inflorescences axillary fascicles on youngest branchlets, with few flowers of both sexes, staminate ones forming after fruit dehiscence. Flowers pedicellate; sepals 5; petals 5, smaller to larger than sepals; disc annular. Staminate flowers: stamens 5, united on short androphore with pistillode on top. Pistillate flowers: pistil 3-locular; ovules 2 per locule; style minute; stigmas almost completely split. Fruits lobed, capsular; column slender, apically not or hardly broadened. Seeds naked.
Ten species from India to China, Malesia, Australia, Central America. Classification: subfam. Phyllanthoideae, tribe Phyllantheae.
Chorisandrachne diplosperma Airy Shaw, Kew Bull. 23: 40. 1969; Kew Bull. 26: 232. 1972.— Leptopus diplospermus (Airy Shaw) G.L.Webster, Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 44: 40. 1994; Welzen in Welzen & Chayam., Fl. Thailand 8, 2: 355, Plate XIX: 3. 2007.
Shrubs to trees, up to 8.5 m high; flowering branches c. 0.5 mm thick. Stipules triangular, 0.8–1.2 by c. 0.3 mm. Leaves: petiole 1.2–1.5 mm long, (sub)glabrous; blades more or less elliptic, 1–2.5 by 0.7–1.6 cm, index 1.4–2.3, base and apex asymmetric with different sides broader, drying greenish greyish; base rounded to cuneate; apex (slightly emarginate to) rounded (to acute), upper surface glabrous, lower surface glaucous, subglabrous to completely pilose; nerves 7–9. Staminate flowers c. 4 mm in diameter; pedicel 5–6 mm long; sepals 5, obovate, c. 1.5 by 1 mm; petals obovate 1.5–2 by c. 1 mm; disc annular, c. 1.5 mm in diameter; stamens: androphore short, filaments 1.5–2 mm long. Pistillate flowers not seen, data from fruit: pedicel up to 2.6 cm long in fruit; sepals c. 3 mm wide; petals spathulate, c. 2.5 by 1 mm; disc annular, flat-cupular, 3–4 mm in diameter. Fruits lobed, c. 10 by 7.5 mm, glabrous; column c. 4 mm long. Seeds c. orbicular, two tightly together in fruit, very flat on joining side, c. 5.5 by 5 by 1.7 mm, smooth.
T h a i l a n d.— SOUTH-WESTERN: Phetchaburi (Kaeng Krachan), Prachuap Khiri Khan (Hua Hin, Pak Tawan, Pranburi); PENINSULAR: Nakhon Si Thammarat (Khao Luang).
D i s t r i b u t i o n.— Endemic in Thailand (type: Pak Tawan, Prachuap Khiri Khan, KERR 20526, holo in K, iso in BK).
E c o l o g y.— Dry evergreen forest; soil: recorded from limestone. Altitude 10–300 m.
V e r n a c u l a r.— Mai paeng (ไม้แป้ง), paeng (แป้ง) (South-western).