苦子马槟榔 ku zi ma bing lang

Capparis bhamoensis Raizada; C. sikkimensis Kurz subsp. yunnanensis (Craib & W. W. Smith) Jacobs.

Shrubs or vines, 2.5-6 m tall. Branches pale purplish brown when dry, almost terete, pith pale red; new twigs slightly flat, with grooves, densely short tan pubescent, later glabrescent. Stipular spines to 5 mm, stout, recurved, often aborted or absent on flowering twigs. Petiole ca. 1 cm, trichomes like those on branches; leaf blade elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate, or sometimes nearly obovate, often tan-colored when dry, glabrous but abaxially slightly shortly pubescent when young but glabrescent, midvein abaxially raised and adaxially impressed, secondary veins 6-8 on each side of midvein and adaxially indistinct, reticulate veins not obvious, base broadly cuneate to rounded, apex rounded, obtuse, or sometimes acute. Inflorescences axillary subumbels or on flowering twig central and apical part together forming a terminal panicle, 3-7-flowered, with abortive leaflets; peduncle 2-6 cm, with dense tan trichomes. Pedicel 1.5-4[-5] cm, trichomes like those on peduncle. Sepals 1-1.7 cm; sepals of outer whorl nearly orbicular, inwardly concave, leathery, outside densely tan tomentose; sepals of inner whorl nearly flat, thin. Petals white, obovate, ca. 2 × 1.5 cm, membranous, inside tomentose. Stamens (60-)85-95; filaments 3-3.5 cm, basally hairy; anthers ca. 2 mm. Gynophore 3-4 cm, glabrous; ovary ovoid, ca. 3 mm, glabrous, apex with small mucronulate tip; placentae 4; ovules many. Fruit tan when dry, ellipsoid to nearly globose, (3-)4-7 × 3-5 cm, smooth, apex acute to shortly beaked; fruiting pedicel and gynophore together 7-9 cm, 3-7 mm in diam., thickened, woody. Seeds many per fruit, tan, 1.5-2 × ca. 1.3 × 1 cm, smooth. Fl. Mar-Apr, fr. Oct-Dec.

Valleys, mixed forests; 1200-2300 m. Guangdong, S and W Yunnan [N Myanmar, N Thailand, N Vietnam].