Volume 2 > Part 1 > Year 1970 > Page 18 > Oxalidaceae > Biophytum

1. Biophytum petersianum Klotzschwfo-0000565517

Peters, Reise Mossamb. Bot. 1: 81. t. 15. 1862; Steen., Bull. Jard. Bot. Buitenz. III. 18: 452. 1950; Back & Bakh. f., Fl. Java 1: 246. 1963.

Accepted Name : Biophytum umbraculum Welw.
Apont.: 590. 1859.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Small, erect annual; stem simple, rarely up to 15 cm high. Leaves 3–9-jugate; rachis 0.5–3.5 cm; terminal leaflets longer than the preceding, obovate, ± oblique, 2–8 by 2–5 mm; other leaflets triangular to orbicular-elliptic, midrib ± median, rounded to obtuse, ± glabrous; nerves few, ± perpendicular to the midrib. Pedicels 1–3 mm. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, 3–5 by 0.7–1.5 mm, ca 0.6 times as long as the petals, in fruit longer than pedicel, ± exceeding the fruit. Petals lanceolate, orange, or yellow in lower half and orange or red in upper. Fruit 3–4 by 2–2.5 mm, apically ciliate on the ribs. Seeds 3–4 per cell, with two longitudinal ridges, in between with transverse rows of minute tubercles.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai (Doi Inthanon), Chiang Rai (Mae Lao); EASTERN: Nakhon Ratchasima (Bua Yai).

Distribution : Tropical Africa (type), Madagascar, tropical SE Asia to New Guinea, introduced in N Australia.

Ecology : Preferring areas with a dry season and heliophilous habitats, up to 1,150 m alt.

Notes: The Thailand specimens hitherto collected have sessile flowers; in Malesia sometimes a peduncle is developed up to ca 1.5 cm long; in Africa peduncled inflorescences are common.