Volume 15 > Part 1 > Year 2021 > Page 195 > Rubiaceae > Galium

2. Galium elegans Wall.wfo-0000968881

in Roxb., Fl. Ind. 1: 382. 1820; Tao Chen & Ehrend. in Z.Y.Wu et al., Fl. China 19: 122. 2011. Fig. 33.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Perennial herbs with a slightly woody rootstock; stems to 30 cm long, with long, whitish hairs. Leaves in (pseudo)whorls of 4, (ob)ovate-lanceolate to (ob)ovate, 0.8–1.8(–2.2) by 0.3–0.9(–1.2) cm, abruptly narrowed to base, rounded at apex, midrib and pair of lateral veins conspicuous, both surfaces covered with long, whitish hairs; petiole typically subobsolete, occasionally 4–5 mm long. Cymes several- to many-flowered. Flowers 4-merous, white to yellowish white. Corolla rotate, ca 2 mm in diam. Fruits of 2 reniform mericarps, densely covered with long, whitish hairs; each mericarp 1–1.5 mm in diam. (without hairs).

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai (Doi Chiang Dao – type of Galium petiolatum: Kerr 6577, holotype -K, isotype -BK), Nan (Doi Phukha NP).

Distribution : From Pakistan and India through the Himalayas (Bhutan, Nepal) eastwards to upper Myanmar (type of Galium punduanum), China, Taiwan, and in W Malesia (Java, Borneo, the Philippines).

Ecology : In open rocky ground, on rocky ridges, in crevices, occasionally in the undergrowth of montane scrub, appears to be confined to limestone, (1,000–)1,800–2,250 m alt. Flowering: July–November; fruiting: September–January.

Vernacular : Phak bia khon (ผักเบี้ยขน).

Notes: The name Galium petiolatum refers to shade forms of G. elegans with more elongated, thinnish stems and thinnish, larger, petiolate leaves (blades to 2.2 by 1.2 cm, petiole to 4–5 mm long). Typically, (Thai material of) the species grows in open, sunny, rocky places where the plants are more stunted and where its leaves stay smaller and become almost leathery.