9. Rhopalephora Hassk., Bot. Zeitung [Berlin] 22: 58 (1864).
Taxon Description
Perennial herbs. Roots fibrous. Rhizomes present. Stems creeping proximally, ascending distally. Leaves distichous or spirally arranged, sheath pubescent, ovate-lanceolate, sheaths vaginate, open, margin slightly undulate. Inflorescence terminal and axillary thyrses, cymes elongated, involucral bracts not penetrating the leaf sheath and emerges through the mouth of sheath. Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic. Pedicels present. Sepals 3, free, boat shaped. Petals 3, free, subequal, upper 2 shortly clawed, white to lilac. Stamens fertile 3, filaments glabrous, staminodes 3, antherodes 2-lobed, longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary 1–3 loculed, ovules 1–2 per locule. Capsules 1–3 valved, subglobose. Seeds 1–2 per valve, cylindric, trigonous, rugose, reticulate, hilum linear.
Taxon Statistics
1. Rhopalephora scaberrima (Blume) Faden, Phytologia 37: 480 (1977).
Commelina scaberrima Blume, Enum. Pl. Javae 1: 4 (1827); Aneilema protensum (Wight) Wall. ex C. B. Clarke; A. scaberrimum (Blume) Kunth; Dictyospermum protensum Wight; D. scaberrimum (Blume) H.Hara; Lamprodithyros protensus (Wight) Hassk.; Piletocarpus protensus (Wight) Hassk.; P. protensus var. intermedius Hassk.
Perennial herbs, 40–50 cm. Roots fibrous. Stems creeping proximally, ascending distally. Leaves spirally arranged, 1.5–6 X 3–13 cm, petiolate, leaf sheath ovate-lanceolate, pubescent. Inflorescence terminal and axillary thyrses, cymes elongated, involucral bracts narrowly oblong to ovate-orbicular, less than 10 mm, glabrous. Pedicels slender, 1–1.5 cm. Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic. Sepals 3, 3–4 mm, ovate or boat-shaped, blunt, glabrous, free, green. Petals 3, white to lilac, 2–3 mm, free, sub equal, upper 2 shortly clawed, lower unclawed. Stamens 6, 3 fertile, filaments glabrous, staminodes 3, antherodes 2-lobed, white. Ovary 1–3-loculed, ovules 1–2 per locule. Capsules 1–3 valved, subglobose. Seeds 1–2 per valve, hemispeheric, 1.6–2.2 mm, rugose, hilum linear, grey-blue.
Distribution: Nepal, E. Himalaya, Tibetan Plateau, Assam-Burma, S. Asia, E. Asia and SE Asia.
Altitudinal range: 1200–2100 m.
Ecology: In the forest bed.
Flowering: July– August.
Fruiting: October –November.