Tinospora merrilliana Diels, Pflanzenr.

S., Mishra, S. M., Khristi & Ray, S., 2021, Tinospora merrilliana (Menispermaceae): an addition to the flora of India, Rheedea 31 (2), pp. 62-67 : 62-63

Tinospora merrilliana Diels, Pflanzenr. (Engler) Menispermac. 137. 1910; Elmer, Leaflets. Philipp. Bot. 4: 1164. 1911; Merrill, Enum. Philipp. Fl. P1. 2: 146. 1923. Fawcettia merrilliana (Diels) Yamam ,

Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Formosa 34: 230. 1944. Type: Sarawak, Haviland 1581 pro parte quoad inflor. masc ( K [ K000644577 digital image!]) .

T. negrotica Diels, Pflanzenr. (Engler) Menispermac. 137. 1910. Type: PHILIPPINES, Negros , Elmer

9468 (holo B [B100294281 digital image!]). FigS. 1 & 2

Slender, woody, dioecious climber with slimy watery sap when cut; bark rough, drying striate. Stems up to 1 cm in diam., young stems 1.5–3 mm in diam., puberulous or glabrous; older stems covered with raised corky lenticels. Leaves with petioles 4–9 cm long, puberulous or glabrous, geniculate and slightly swollen at base; lamina narrowly ovate to ovate or broadly ovate, base truncate to deeply cordate, apex acuminate, 7–22 × 3–16 cm, palmately 5–7-nerved at base, main nerves usually impressed on upper surface and prominent below, both surfaces glabrous, texture stiffly chartaceous, domatia absent. Male inflorescences axillary or arising from older, leafless stems, pseudo-paniculate, 6–16 cm long, solitary or several branches arising together, very slender, puberulous, mostly without flowers in lower half of each branches. Male flowers on 2–5 mm long pedicels; sepals pale green, very thin, glabrous or sparsely puberulous, outer 3 ovate, 1–1.5 mm long, inner 3 obovate to spathulate, 2–3 mm long; petals 6, unguiculate with distinct oblate limb, 1.5–2 mm long, apically fleshy; stamens 6, narrowly clavate, 2–2.5 mm long. Female inflorescences bracteate, pseudo-racemose, solitary, 15–30 cm long, very slender, puberulous. Female flowers on 4–7 mm long pedicles; sepals and petals same as in males; staminodes absent; carpels 3, ellipsoid, 1.5–2 mm long; style terminal; stigma very strongly lobed. Infructescences narrowly pseudo-paniculate, up to 30 cm long, pendent with slender peduncle up to 23 cm long, puberulous. Drupes greenish at immature stage, greenish-white when ripe, radiating from sub-globose carpophore 1–2 mm in diam. on peduncles, 4–6 mm long; pericarp glabrous, drying close to endocarp, mesocarp pulpy, endocarp thinly crustaceous, usually pale, broadly ellipsoidal, 7–8 mm long, dorsally with an obscure medium ridge, surface smooth or obscurely tuberculate, ventrally flattish with elliptic aperture leading to deeply intrusive condyle.

Flowering & fruiting: Flowering from October to December and fruiting from January to May.

Habitat: This species grows in loamy soil along with hedges around cultivated field at an altitude of 318 m. It is rare and sparsely distributed occurring sympatrically with Tinospora sinensis . The associated plants in the locality are Clerodendrum phlomidis L.f. ( Lamiaceae ), Ailanthus excelsus Roxb. ( Simaroubaceae ) and Azadirachta indica Juss. ( Meliaceae ).

Distribution: Southeast Asia to South Asia from Borneo, Philippines Sulawesi and now in India.

Specimen examined: INDIA, Madhya Pradesh, Burhanpur district, Telyababa forest range, 20.02.2019, Shakun Mishra 1019 ( BSI, CAL) .

Notes: Tinospora merrilliana is a little known endemic species of Central Malesia, disjunctly distributed in some parts of Asia-tropical including Borneo, Philippines ( Palawan, Luzon, Catanduanes, Panay, Mindanao) and Northeast Sulawesi (Minahassa). It is morphologically closely allied to Tinospora dissitiflora (K.Schum & Lauterb.) Diels but differs in many characters: the petioles in T. merrilliana are geniculate basally and slightly swollen whereas it is not geniculate in T. dissitiflora . In addition, only the latter species has glandular patches in basal nerve axils. Further, the inflorescences of the two species are different. T. merrilliana shows bracteate, pseudoracemose, solitary female inflorescence; 15–30 cm long puberulous peduncles; female flowers on 4–7 mm long pedicles; absence of staminodes and, three carpels towards the periphery whereas in T. dissitiflora shows male axillary inflorescences or arise from older, leafless stems, pseudopaniculate; female inflorescences pseudopaniculate towards the base; male flowers on very slender pedicels, 5–10 mm long; female flower with 6 staminodes and subulate. Similarly, the drupes of T. merrilliana are greenish when young and or later become greenish white, but in T. dissitiflora they are red. Moreover, the endocarp of T. merrilliana is broadly ellipsoidal in outline, 7–8 mm long, dorsally with an obscure medium ridge, smoother surface obscurely tuberculate. Whereas in T. dissitiflora the endocarp is bony, strongly and irregularly tuberculate, rather oblong in outline with squarish corners, 10–12 × 7–8 mm. Forman (1981) in his revision of the genus in Asia to Australia and the Pacific has not given details of the female inflorescence, which are provided here.

Figures

Fig. 1. TinoSpora merrilliana DielS: a. TWig; b. Woody Stem With raiSed CorKy lentiCelS; c. AdaXial VieW of leaf; d. AbaXial VieW of leaf; e. Part ShoWing geniCulate and Slightly SWollen petiole baSe; f. Male infloreSCenCe;g. Male floWer-front VieW; h. Male floWer-baCK VieW (from MiShra 1019; photoS by D. MiShra).

Fig. 2. TinoSpora merrilliana DielS:a. Female infloreSCenCe;b. Female floWer-front VieW;c. InfruCteSCenCe;d. InfruCteSCenCe With leafy braCtS; e. Mature drupe; f. Immature drupe With Carpophore and longitudinal SeCtion of drupe; g. EndoCarp-dorSal VieW; h. EndoCarp-Ventral VieW (from MiShra 1019; photoS by D. MiShra).