Martynia annua L.

Erect rank herb, frequently widely branched, ½-1½ m high. Stem subterete, thick, fistular. Leaves broadly ovate from a cordate base, with a triangular apex, repand-dentate, herbaceous, pale green, 15-30 by 15-22 cm; petiole thick, fistular, often tinged with purple, 12-25 cm. Racemes by the development of a branch in each of the highest leaf-axils often seemingly in bifurcations of the stem, erect, 5-13 cm, not very dense. Flowers not very many. Bracts and bracteoles pale pink; bracts clawed, 1½-3½ cm long; their blade oval or oval-obovate, 1-2 cm wide, distinctly veined. Pedicels 1-2^2 cm. Bracteoles at the calyx-base during an-thesis still present, ovate-oblong, 1½-2¼ cm long. Calyx yellowish white or greenish white, 1½-2 cm long, falling off after anthesis. Corolla totaling 5½-6½ cm, tube 3½-4½ cm, outside pale pink, on the anterior side within with stalked glands and yellow and purple dots; segments broadly rounded, pink with a dark purple blotch; anterior segment much larger than the others, with a yellow blotch beneath the purple one. Filaments white, glabrous, 1½-1¾ cm; lateral staminodes 4-6 mm, posterior one 1½-2 mm. Disk broadest on the back, glabrous. Ovary glabrous. Style 2½-3 cm, posterior lamella of stigma obtuse, anterior one slightly longer, acute. Drupe green, ovoid, with a short upturned beak; endocarp black, very hard, ± 3 cm long.

It is a tropical plant. It grows near Bombay in India. In Pakistan it grows up to about 1,000 m altitude. In southern China it grows between 500-1,500 m above sea level.

The leaves are eaten. The fruit is eaten. The bark of the fruit is chewed.