Volume 7 > Part 3 > Year 2001 > Page 436 > Melastomataceae > Medinilla

3. Medinilla laurifolia (Blume) Blumewfo-0000160031

Flora 14: 511. 1831; Bakh.f., Rec. Trav. Bot. Néerl. 40: 186. 1943; J.F.Maxwell, Gard. Bull. (Singapore) 31: 162, pl. 2 (photo). 1978.— Melastoma laurifolium Blume, Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind. 17: 1069. 1826.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Epiphytic shrubs, upper branches terete, covered with small pustules and tubercles, texture rough and wrinkled when dry, glabrous. Leaves opposite, elliptic, 7–18 x 4–7.5 cm, base decurrent or acute, apex acute or obtuse, lamina with 1 pair of lateral primary veins, above drying with a roughened texture, petioles 0.8–1.8 cm long. Inflorescences few-flowered cymes on leafless nodes of older branches or axillary, 3–4 cm long, 5–10 flowers, peduncle 1.5–2.5 cm long. Hypanthium campanulate, 5–6 mm long, smooth, glabrous, calyx rim truncate or with 5 or 6 minute teeth, ovary ca ¾ as long as the hypanthium, stamen pockets extending below the middle of the ovary. Flowers 5- or 6 merous; pedicels 5–6 mm long; bracts and bracteoles triangular, ca 0.5 mm long. Petals obovate, 15–18 mm long, 9–11 mm wide. Stamens 10 or 12, equal, anthers 6–8 mm long, J-shaped, purple or yellow, connective dorsally with a basal spur, ventrally with two yellow lobes. Berry 5–6 mm diam. and 0.8–1.5 cm long, campanulate, truncate on top.

Thailand : NORTH-EASTERN: Loei (Smitinand 1928, Sorensen 6269); PENINSULAR: Surat Thani (Khao Nawng, 800 m – type of Medinilla ferrata: Kerr 13253 -BK K, see type photo in Maxwell 1978, pl. 2).

Distribution : Sumatra, Java (type of Medinilla laurifolia: Blume s.n.), Celebes.

Ecology : Evergreen lower montane forests at 700–1,300 m alt.

Vernacular : Khleng nong (เคลงน้อง).