多花瓜馥木 duo hua gua fu mu

Melodorum polyanthum J. D. Hooker & Thomson, Fl. Ind. 1: 121. 1855.

Climbers to 8 m tall. Roots black, very aromatic. Branches dark gray to brown pubescent, glabrescent. Petiole 0.8-1.5 cm, blackish and transversely wrinkled when dried, pubescent; leaf blade oblong, obovate-oblong, or sometimes elliptic, 6-17.5 × 2-7.5 cm, thinly leathery, abaxially puberulent, adaxially glabrous, secondary veins 13-18 on each side of midvein and adaxially flat, base rounded to broadly cuneate, apex acute, rounded, or sometimes retuse. Inflorescences axillary, leaf-opposed, or extra-axillary, glomerulate, usually 3-7-flowered, yellowish pubescent; peduncle to 4 mm. Flowers small; pedicel to 1.5 cm, bracteolate between base and below middle. Flowers buds broadly 3-angular, apex acute. Sepals broadly triangular, outside pubescent. Outer petals ovate-elliptic, ca. 12 mm, outside densely fulvous pubescent, inside glabrous; inner petals oblong, ca. 9 mm, apex acuminate. Stamens oblong; connectives 3-angular, apex obtuse. Carpels oblong, villous; ovules 4-6 per carpel, in 2 series; stigma apex entire. Monocarp stipes to 2.5 cm, slender; monocarps globose, ca. 1.5 cm in diam., yellowish pubescent. Seeds reddish brown, ellipsoid, flat. Fl. Jan-Oct, fr. Mar-Dec.

Forested slopes, often in ravines; 100-1200 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, S Guizhou, Hainan, SE Xizang, S Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Vietnam].

The roots of Fissistigma polyanthum are used as medicine for rheumatism, traumatic injury, and scabies; its leaves are used for treating asthma and scabies; and the bast fibers are used to make rope. The taxon was first mentioned, but not validly published, as "Uvaria polyantha" by Wallich (Numer. List, no. 6467. 1832).