Volume 7 > Part 4 > Year 2002 > Page 680 > Loranthaceae > Helixanthera

3. Helixanthera cylindrica (Jack) Danserwfo-0000719068

Bull. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg 3, 11: 377. 1931; l.c., 16: 23, 258. 1938, 1940; Barlow, Fl. Mal. I, 13: 333. 1997.— Loranthus cylindricus Jack in Roxb., Fl. Ind., ed. 1, 2: 213. 1824. [For extensive additional synonymy see Danser, loc. cit.]. Fig. 4. A–B.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Glabrous except for young internodes and sometimes the inflorescence and flowers sparsely brown tomentose and soon glabrescent. Leaves scattered, subopposite or subverticillate; lamina elliptic or ovate, 5–15(–20) by (0.8–)1.5–6 cm, attenuate or cuneate at the base to a petiole 8–30 mm long, irregular at the apex but normally somewhat attenuate and acute, dull or slightly glossy above, dull below; venation pinnate with the midrib distinct on both sides, the lateral veins usually distinct above and the many parallel tertiary veins obscure but forming a finely striate pattern above. Inflorescences at the nodes and rarely terminal, a few- to 25-flowered raceme; axis 50–250 mm long, angular; pedicels (1–)4–18(–27) mm long; bracts simple, rounded, 1–1.5 mm long. Ovary cylindric, 5–8 mm long; calyx limb spreading, 1–1.5 mm long. Corolla in mature bud 5-merous, (15–)22–30(–40) mm long, often slightly inflated up to 3 mm wide in the lower 2–4 mm, gradually narrowed upwards, acute at the apex, mostly orange-red to bright red, sometimes yellow-white or yellow-green. Anther 5–12 mm long, acute, usually about two thirds as long as the free part of the filament but often longer in Thailand. Style 15–32(–38) mm long, reaching to the top of the anthers, uniformly slender throughout and lacking a constriction; stigma capitate, slightly wider than the style.

Thailand : NORTH-EASTERN: Loei; SOUTH-EASTERN: Chon Buri, Chanthaburi, Trat; PENINSULAR: Ranong, Surat Thani, Phangnga, Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Trang, Songkhla, Pattani, Narathiwat.

Distribution : Burma to Vietnam and southwards to Java and Bali.

Ecology : Somewhat aggressive, in open and humid (evergreen and deciduous) forests, often on cultivated trees, in Thailand from 0–1,300 m alt.; recorded hosts include Dalbergia, Eugenia, Heritiera littoralis, Hevea and a species of Lauraceae.

Vernacular : Kafak (กาฝาก)(Chanthaburi); kafak samet (กาฝากเสม็ด)(Narathiwat).

Notes: Some Thailand specimens of Helixanthera cylindrica approach H. crassipetala in pedicel length, but are otherwise typical. See notes under H. cylindrica and in Barlow, l.c. 331, 333.