Volume 7 > Part 3 > Year 2001 > Page 452 > Melastomataceae > Osbeckia

4. Osbeckia nepalensis Hook.f.wfo-0001083292

Exot. Fl. 1, pl. 31. 1823; Guillaumin in Lecomte, Fl. Gén. I.-C. 2: 868. 1921; Craib in Fl. Siam. Enum. 1: 676. 1931; Hansen, Ginkgoana 4: 64, pl. 1A. 1977. Fig. 33.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Small tree or shrub, up to 2 m tall, branchlets angular and covered with appressed shaggy hairs. Leaves ovate to lanceolate, 8–15 x 1.4–5 cm, subsessile, base rounded, apex acute, lamina with 2(–3) pairs of lateral primary veins, strigose above, subvillous below. Inflorescences clustered cymes of up to 10 flowers, terminal or in distal leaf axils. Flowers 5-merous. Hypanthium 6–8(–10) mm long, with few to several large, appressed emergences, each crowned by long bristles, ca 5 mm long (Fig. 33B); calyx lobes triangular, 6–8 mm long, caducous. Petals 15–20 mm long, light pink. Stamens 10, isomorphic, anthers 6–9 mm long, yellow, oblong and narrowed into a beak (Fig. 33C). Ovary longer than the hypanthium (including the crown of apical bristles). Capsule urceolate, up to 10 mm long.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai; NORTH-EASTERN: Phetchabun; EASTERN: Chaiyaphum.

Distribution : Nepal (type), Bhutan, India, S China, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Malay Peninsula.

Ecology : Found on rocky ground or in heavy soils or bogs, apparently occasionally cultivated as an ornamental, at 300–1,400 m alt.

Vernacular : Aa nam (อ้าน้ำ), en aa nam (เอ็นอ้าน้ำ)(Chiang Mai).