Volume 2 > Part 3 > Year 1975 > Page 225 > Smilacaceae > Smilax

9. Smilax lanceifolia Roxb.wfo-0000742571

[Hort. Beng.: 72. 1814, nom. nud.] Fl. Ind. ed. 2. 3: 792. 1832, as “lanceaefolia”; A.DC., Monogr. Phaner. 1: 57. 1878; Hook.f., Fl. Br. Ind. 6: 308. 1892; Gagnep. in Fl. Gen. I.-C. 6: 767. 1934.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Climber with long, woody, terete stems 4–7 mm thick, up to 5 m long, smooth or rarely sparsely prickly; flowering branches 30–60 cm long, terete or obscurely angular, usually smooth greenish, more or less shiny, internodes 1.5–6 cm long, 2–3 mm thick. Leaves annual or winter-green; blades variable in shape, size and thickness, broadly lanceolate, elliptic or ovate-oblong, 6–15 cm long, 1.5–5(–8) cm wide, herbaceous to thickly membranous, or sometimes thinly coriaceous, fresh green, j usually remaining greenish after being dried, slightly shiny to opaque on upper surface, only slightly paler beneath, contracted to base, gradually or subabruptly narrowed to a very briefly caudate apex; costas 5 including a fairly distinct marginal pair, all separate from base, distinct on upper surface, highly raised often with sharp edge on lower surface, lateral veinlets spreading, ascending or slightly curved upward, some further divided, the reticulation dense and fine, not elongate, distinct on both surfaces; petioles 10–25 mm long, often bent upward above the middle, 3-angular with ? subobtuse abaxial angle, broading off below the middle, sheathing for 4–8 mm; wings narrow, 0.5–0.8 mm Wide, hardly auriculate at tip; tendrils vestigial on flowering branches, those on vegetative branches and stems up to 20 cm. Inflorescences usually 1-umbellate, the axis prophyllate at very base, 3–7 mm long bearing 1 small bract which is usually hidden in the prophyll; prophylls broadly ovate, boat-shaped, 3 mm long, apiculate, persistent; peduncle stout, straight 1–1.5 cm long; umbels of both sexes 1.5–2.5 mm across, 17–40-flowered; rays 1 cm long; receptacles 2–3 mm thick. Staminate perianth recurved at anthesis: outer and inner tepals similar, oblong, obtuse, 3–4 mm long, 1 mm wide; stamens 6; filaments 2.5 mm long; anthers elliptic, 0.5 mm long. Pistillate perianth 1.5–2 mm long; tepals erect to erect-patent, elliptic-ovate, subacute, 0.5–0.7 mm Wide. Ovary ovoid, 2 mm long; stigmas 0.7 mm long; staminodes needle-like 0.7–1 mm long. Berries ellipsoid or globose, 5–7 mm across, yellowish-reddish at maturity; seeds 1 or 2, suborbicular, 4.5 mm in diameter.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai; NORTH-EASTERN: Udon Thani; EASTERN: Chaiyaphum; SOUTH-EASTERN: Prachin Buri, Chanthaburi, Trat SOUTH-WESTERN: Kanchanaburi; PENINSULAR: Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat.

Distribution : Widely distributed from Indian Himalaya (type) through Burma, Thailand and Indochina north-eastwards to Hainan, SEn China and Formosa, as well as southwards to Malaya.

Ecology : A common vine in tropical evergreen forests, 500–1,600 m alt.

Vernacular : Dao (เดา), nam dao (หนามเดา)(Northern); thao yang dong (เทายั้งดง)(Southeastern).