Volume 10 > Part 3 > Year 2010 > Page 367 > Convolvulaceae > Argyreia

30. Argyreia sphaerocephala (Prain) Hooglandwfo-0000155321

Blumea 7: 183. 1952; Ooststr. & Hoogland, Fl. Males. ser. 1, 4: 503. 1953; Staples & Traiperm, Thai Forest Bull. (Bot.) 36: 104. 2008.— Lettsomia sphaerocephala Prain, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 73(2): 19. 1904. Fig. 10.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Woody climber to 10 m; all parts sparsely strigose, glabrescent. Leaves narrowly ovate, 5–13 by 2.5–7.2 cm, base rounded or shallowly cordate, apex acute to acuminate, mucronate, drying reddish underneath; secondary veins 5–7 either side; petiole 3–7 cm. Inflorescences axillary, pendulous, ca 30-flowered; peduncles whip-like, 25–135 cm long, 1–1.5 mm diam.; outer bracts ovate to elliptic-ovate, ca 5–7.4 by 2.6–5.2 cm, hirsute outside, persistent; inner bracts smaller; pedicels 0.3–0.4 cm, in fruit 0.6–0.9 cm. Flowers protruding beyond bracts; sepals ovate-lanceolate, subequal, ca 4–6 mm long, mucronulate, glabrous inside, accrescent in fruit; corolla subtubular, 6–7.2 cm long, purple-red, flaring slightly from above middle, limb erect, 5-toothed, appressed yellowish hirsute outside; stamens exserted, filaments glabrous, anthers slenderly sagittate, 3.5–5.5 mm long; pistil exserted, ovary 2-celled, glabrous. Berry ellipsoid, 13–18 by 10–15 mm, glossy lilac-pink, acute, glabrous, subtended by reflexed sepals. Seed 1, ellipsoid, ca 11–12 by 8–9 mm, glabrous.

Thailand : PENINSULAR: Songkhla, Narathiwat.

Distribution : Peninsular Malaysia (type).

Ecology : In evergreen forests on hills, 250–300 m alt. Flowering: October, November; fruiting: April, August, November.

Notes: Argyreia sphaerocephala evidently flowers while leafless or may be cauliflorous, with inflorescences developing from leaf axils on older wood. This is a very showy species and deserves to be cultivated.

E-version notes : According to Plants of the World Online, as Argyreia sphaerocephala (Prain) Prain ex Hoogland