滇南蒴莲 dian nan shuo lian

Passiflora penangiana Wallich ex G. Don, Gen. Hist. 3: 55. 1834; Adenia nicobarica King; Disemma penangiana (Wallich ex G. Don) Miquel; Modecca nicobarica Kurz.

Vines, to 6 m long, glabrous. Rootstock tuberous. Stems terete, slender; internodes 1-10 cm; tendrils simple or 3-forked, 1-10 cm. Stipules triangular, ca. 0.5 mm; petioles 0.5-2 cm; glands at blade-petiole junction 2, on slightly bi-lobed peltate extension of base of blade, ca. 1 mm in diam.; leaf blade elliptic to lanceolate, 2-16 × 0.5-4 cm, membranous to leathery, not punctate, glands near leaf margin 0-9, base rounded, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate. Plants (monoecious or) dioecious. Inflorescences usually tendrillate, occasionally of short racemose shoots, pedunculate for 1-10 cm, to 30-flowered in males, 1-3-flowered in females; bracts and bracteoles triangular, ca. 1 mm, apex acute. Pedicel 0.5-4 mm. Flowers narrowly campanulate, 6-17 × 1-4 mm; stipe cream-colored, 1-7 mm. Hypanthium narrowly cup-shaped, 1-2.5 mm deep. Calyx tube to 2 mm; lobes reflexed, oblong to linear, 4-15 mm, apex entire to irregular, rounded to acute. Petals inserted at level of corona, elliptic to linear, 4-10 mm, apex serrulate, rounded to acute. Septa 0.25-2 mm high. Corona laciniate, membranous, occasionally of woolly filaments at apex of hypanthium. Disk glands linear, ca. 1 mm, truncate. Male flowers: filaments 2-3 mm, connate for ca. 2 mm, inserted at base of hypanthium, septa occasionally spanning entire length of hypanthium; anthers ca. 3 × 0.5 mm, to 1 mm apiculate; vestigial ovary including gynophore ca. 1 mm. Female flowers: staminodes ca. 1 mm, connate for ca. 0.5 mm, inserted at base of hypanthium; ovary 3-6 mm; gynophore ca. 0.5 mm; styles 1-2 mm, connate for up to 0.5 mm; stigmas globose, woolly. Capsules 1 per inflorescence, scarlet at dehiscence, oblong, ca. 4 × 2 cm, with gynophore to 4 cm, exocarp and mesocarp leathery. Seeds ca. 10 per capsule, subglobose or flattened; funicles of seeds 5-10 mm. Fl. and fr. throughout year, mostly around Oct.

Dense forests and open fields, occasionally in seasonally marshy areas; ca. 500 m. Yunnan (Mengla) [India (Nicobar Islands), Indonesia (Sumatra), Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam].

The above description is based on extra-regional specimens as no material from China was available for study.