Volume 10 > Part 3 > Year 2010 > Page 454 > Convolvulaceae > Porana

Porana volubilis Burm.f.wfo-0001036016

Fl. Ind. 51. t. 21. 1768; Ooststr., Blumea 3: 87. 1938; Fl. Males. ser. 1, 4: 402. 1953; Kerr, Fl. Siam. Enum. 3(1): 93. 1951; Staples & Jacquemoud, Candollea 60: 449–450. 2005; Staples, Blumea 51: 456. 2006; Plate LIV: 2.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Liana; stems 6–10(–20) m long, lenticellate, sparsely velutinous, later glabrescent. Leaves ovate, ovate-elliptic, or suborbicular, 5.8–10.7 by 3.7–6.3 cm, base truncate, emarginate or subcordate, apex acuminate-caudate, mucronulate, both sides glabrous or a few hairs along veins underneath; lateral veins 5–8 per side; petiole 1.3–3 cm long. Inflorescence thyrsiform, bracteose; lower bracts ovate, 2.4–4.7 cm, persisting; upper bracts and bracteoles smaller, deciduous; pedicels filiform, 3–5 mm. Flowers fragrant; sepals equal, 4–5 by 1–2 mm, outer 2 elliptic-ovate, inner elliptic; corolla 7–8 mm long, white, limb 5-lobed, outside sparsely puberulent, inside glabrous; stamens 5–6 mm long; pistil 7–8 mm long, ovary ovoid, apically sericeous, style branched above middle, sericeous basally, glabrous above, stigmas < 1 mm diam. Fruit globose to ovoid, 2–4 mm diam., brown, attached to reflexed calyx, enlarged sepals 7–10 mm. Seed subglobose, 1.5–3 mm diam.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai; SOUTH-WESTERN: Ratchaburi; CENTRAL: Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (Bangkok).

Distribution : Probably native in SE Asia and Malesia; seemingly introduced and naturalized in southern India, Myanmar, and the Philippines. Type of unknown provenance (G-Burman).

Ecology : Not known in the wild in Thailand, 0–350 m alt. Flowering: February, July, November, December.

Vernacular : lada (ลดา)(Ratchaburi), ladawan (ลดาวัลย์), maliwan (มะลิวัลย์)(Central); kala phueak (กะลาเผือก)(Mae Hong Son); mok-han-sen (มอกหันเซะ)(N Thailand, Shan dialect); nada (นดา)(N Thailand, Lao dialect).

Notes: Presumed indigenous in Thailand, but all the specimens seen have label data indicating they came from cultivated plants. As Kerr (l.c.) observed “Not seen wild, or in fruit in Thailand.” My own observations corroborate this based on the few recent collections of Porana volubilis from Thailand.