Volume 8 > Part 2 > Year 2007 > Page 551 > Euphorbiaceae > Sauropus

24. Sauropus subterblancus (C.E.C.Fisch.) Welzenwfo-0000525038

Blumea 46: 504. 2001; Blumea 48: 377, map 14. 2003.— Glochidion subterblancum C.E.C.Fisch., Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1927: 211. 1927.

Accepted Name : Breynia subterblancum (C.E.C.Fisch.) C.E.C.Fisch.
Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1939: 98. 1939.

Description : Low shrub, up to 70 cm high, glabrous; only very young branches with 2 ribs. Stipules triangular, 1.3–1.4 by 0.9–1 mm, basally eared, stiff, rather persistent. Leaves: petiole 2–2.5 mm long, some asperities above; blade ovate, 3.5–7.5 by 2–4.1 cm, length/width ratio 1.7–1.9, coriaceous, base attenuate, margin entire, somewhat revolute, apex acute, mucronulate, glaucous when dry, nerves 6–8. Flowers single in axillary fascicles, staminate ones lower on the branches; flowers pale green. Staminate flowers ca 3.5 mm in diam.; pedicel ca 2 mm long; calyx campanulate, ca 1.7 mm high, scales absent, smaller sepals ca 1 by 2 mm, apex rounded, involute, larger ones ca 1 by 1.3 mm, emarginate, apex inflexed and grown with blade; stamens: androphore ca 1 mm long, yellow; anthers ca 1.2 by 1.2 mm. Pistillate flowers 5(–10.5 in fruit) mm in diam.; pedicel 2.5–3 mm; calyx lobes obovate, rounded, small ones ca 2 by 1.1 (to 2 by 3 in fruit) mm, larger ones ca 2.3 by 1.3 (to 2 by 6 in fruit) mm; ovary not measured; stigmas erect, basal to each stigma two fleshy, erect ovary lobes. Fruits ovoid, ca 7 by 5 mm, apically with rim formed by thickened apical ovary lobes; column not seen. Seeds not seen.

Thailand : PENINSULAR: Ranong.

Distribution : Burma (S Tenasserim – type).

Ecology : Evergreen forests, 50–70 m alt.

Notes: Sauropus subterblancus has been mistaken for a Breynia and a Glochidion, but clearly belongs to the Hemisauropus group in Sauropus (3 large, almost erect stamens, inner staminate sepals inflexed with apex grown together with rest of blade, and fleshy extensions of the ovary next to the stigmas, erect stigmas which are hardly coiled and clearly papillate above).