Tinospora macrocarpa Diels

Turner, I. M., 2023, Revision of Tinospora (Menispermaceae - Chasmantheroideae - Burasaieae) in Singapore, European Journal of Taxonomy 900, pp. 180-193 : 187-188

Tinospora macrocarpa Diels

Fig. 4

in Engler, Das Pflanzenreich IV, 94(46): 141 ( Diels 1910).

– Type: PENINSULAR MALAYSIA – • Malacca, 7 Jun. 1868, A. C. Maingay 3133 [Kew Distrib. 111]; holotype K [ K000644584 ]!; possible isotype K [ K000644583 ] !.

Additional material examined

SINGAPORE • Cluny Road, 1899, H. N. Ridley s.n. [Talka leg.]; SING [ SING0042528 ] • Western Catchment , 15 Jun. 2010, Hassan et al. SING 2010-769 ; SING [ SING0146684 ] • Mandai Track 7, 27 Feb. 2012, Ang & Yeo s.n.; SING [ SING0168703 ] • Nee Soon Firing Range , 12 May 2019, Ng & Yeo SING 2019-483 ; SING [ SING0315293 , SING0315294 , SING0310265 ] • Singapore Botanic Gardens , 6 Apr. 1921, Deshmukh s.n.; SING [ SING0243590 ] • Balestier, 1898, H. N. Ridley s.n.; SING [ SING0042532 ] • Yo Chu Kang, 1902, H. N. Ridley s.n.; SING [ SING0042525 ] • cultivated in Pasir Panjang Nursery , 9 Feb. 2022, R. C. J. Lim & X. Y. Ng SING 2022-242 ; SING [ SING0359031 ] • 1867–1868, A. C. Maingay 2594 [Kew distrib. no. 112]; K • Tanah Runto , 14 Feb. 1890, J. S. Goodenough s.n.; BM .

Description

Large woody climber with twining young shoots; descdending aerial roots present. Old stems drying red-brown, irregularly longitudinally wrinkled, bark thin, smooth, shiny with scattered pale raised lenticels, young stems paler brown, more consistently longitudinally striate, glabrous. Leaves membranous to chartaceous, glabrous, not peltate, basally 5-nerved, generally with minutely papillate glandular patches on lower lamina surface between bases of main nerves, nerves flush to slightly raised above in dry leaves, raised below, lamina ovate, 7.5–18 × 5–13 cm, base truncate to strongly cordate, apex acute and acuminate, acumen may be fine and sharply pointed, reticulations visible on both surfaces; petiole 4.5– 13 cm long, drying 1–2 mm wide, longitudinally striate, not notably swollen at either end, but usually geniculate at base. Male inflorescences borne in groups on the old stems, unbranched, slender, sometime slightly zigzag, 7–20 cm long; flowers borne about 3 together subtended by bracteole 0.5–1 mm long. Male flowers subsessile, outer sepals 3, triangular-ovate 0.8 mm long, inner sepals 3, broadly elliptic, concave 1.5–2 mm long; petals 6, oblong with lateral edges incurved; stamens 6, 0.8 mm long. Female inflorescences and female flowers unknown. Infructescences to 25 cm long, fruiting pedicel 5–13 mm long, 2–3 mm thick, drupes 1–3 per flower, mostly 1, ovoid, 4 × 1.5–2 cm, green with pale spots when immature, ripening orange, drying dull black, longitudinally wrinkled with a short beak and short stipe, glabrous, pericarp thick, mesocarp white and mucilaginous, endocarp ovoid, 3–3.5 × 1.3–1.5 cm, drying almost white, ventrally with a pronounced groove, dorsally with a slight narrow ridge that becomes a more prominent keel basally, scattered irregularly tubercules laterally. Seed ± cylindrical, ca 2 × 1 cm, with a marked ventral groove.

Distribution

Endemic to the Malay Peninsula. Forman (1986) included some fruiting specimens from Sabah in T. macrocarpa , but these appear to me to represent a separate species and are hence excluded here.

Notes

Tinospora macrocarpa has glandular patches on the lower lamina surface between the main nerves. These readily distinguish the species from the others found in Singapore. The scattered tubercles on the endocarps contrast with the densely verruculate endocarps of T. singapura I.M.Turner sp. nov.

Figures

Fig. 4. Specimen of Tinospora macrocarpa Diels from Singapore with unripe fruits. Photo: Paul Leong.