Balanophora latisepala (Tiegh.) Lecomte

Species

Angiosperms > Santalales > Balanophoraceae > Balanophora

Characteristics

Dioecious plants (inflorescences unisexual), yellowish white to yellow or grey. Length from fusion with host root to top of inflorescence 10-25 cm. Tubers in a mass, branching from the base. Single tuber subspherical-ellipsoid, 2-4½ by 1¾-2½ cm. Surface of tubers fine granular with few to numerous stellate warts. Stem mostly long and slender, ¾-1¼ cm ø below inflorescence. Leaves 3-4(-6), well spaced, distichous, patent. ♂ Inflorescence long-ellipsoid, 5-9 cm long and 1½-2½ cm wide with flowers expanded. Bracts truncate, c. 3 mm long and 5 mm wide, sometimes with the middle part reduced and thus appearing like two teeth. Pedicels (1½-)2-3(-6) mm long. ♂ Flowers bisymmetric or zygomorphic on account of lateral elongation and correspondingly compressed in anterior-posterior direction, 4-5 (-9-14)-merous. A normally developed 4-merous flower will have two narrow, ovate, acute lateral tepals 3-3½ by 1½-2 mm and two wide, nearly square, truncate median tepals 3-3½ by 3-4 mm. In a 5-merous flower the upper median tepal is normally split into two. Higher numbers of tepals may be caused by further splitting up of median tepals or simply by fusion of neighbouring flowers. Synandrium with fertile part laterally elongated, somewhat compressed in anterior-posterior direction. Anther cells 16-20 or more, parallel, always running from base to top of synandrium, opening longitudinally. ♀ Inflorescence (1-)4-6(-7) cm long and (½-)1-1½(-2) cm wide, long-ellipsoid or almost cylindrical with obtuse top part. Spadicles (730-)1050(-1270) μ long, lower part cylindrical, c. 100 μ wide, upper part obovoid, 300-600 μ wide, about ⅓ of total length of spadicle. ♀ Flowers on main axis of inflorescence as well as on spadicles, the largest flowers being those on the main axis. Largest flowers with pistils (845-)1070(-1300) μ long. Ovaries ovoid, (300-)360 (-400) μ long.
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Growth form herb
Growth support parasite
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Sexuality dioecy
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Environment

In various kinds of forest, from 1200-1700 m. Flowering season in Malaya, Sumatra, and Borneo probably all year round, but more records are necessary. Parasitizing various trees and climbers. Hosts recorded: Gymnema sp. (Ascl.), Bambusa sp. (?) (Gram.), Ficus religiosa L. (Morac), Sterculia sp. (Sterc), Tetrastigma sp. (Vitac.).
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Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

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Cultivation

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Distribution

Balanophora latisepala world distribution map, present in China, Indonesia, India, Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Thailand, and Viet Nam

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:60474093-2
WFO ID wfo-0000558697
COL ID KFXT
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Balaniella fasciculata Balaniella latisepala Balaniella sphaerica Balanophora fasciculata Balanophora latisepala Balanophora thorelii Balanophora truncata