Author: Prain
Morphological description (see also description of Genus Bauhinia ; Subgenus Phanera and Section Lasiobema )
(curtisii Bauh Reinw f7 )
Tendrilled shrub to large climber; young branches greyish puberulous, later glabrous, glossy.
Leaves: stipules minute, ovate-acute, glabrous; petiole ± pubescent, 1-3.5 cm; lamina broadly ovate to ovate-oblong, 5-7 by 2.5-6 cm, 5-7-nerved; entire (curtisii Bauh. infl/lf 386327) to emarginate or bifid 1/5 with broad sinus; tips of lobes acute to subacute, base rounded to shallowly cordate; upper surface subglabrous, glossy, lower pubescent to subglabrous.
Inflorescences: (curtisii Bauh. infl/lf 386327) lateral and terminal, mainly unbranched, lax-flowered racemes, 10-20 cm long; main axis greyish-pubescent; pedicels capillary, up to 2 cm long; bracts 1-2 mm long; bracteoles minute, inserted at about the middle of the pedicel.
Flowers: (curtisii Bauhinia FT6)Buds ovoid-acute, greyish pubescent, 2-3 mm long. Hypanthium very short turbinate. Calyx splitting into 2 or 3 segments. Petals greenish, 5-7 mm, unequal, 2 lower spathulate, 3 upper very narrow, claw 2-3 mm. Stamens 3 fertile; filaments 4-5 mm; anthers oblong, opening by a longitudinal slit; staminodes 2, minute. Ovary glabrous, shortly stipitate, c. 2 mm, emerging laterally from the yellow, glabrous disc; style 1-2 mm; stigma inconspicuous.
Pollen: curtisii Bauh pol 386328.
Pods dehiscent, strap-shaped, 5-6 by 1.5 cm, glossy, smooth, thin-valved with a short, curved beak.
Seeds 2-6, flat, c. 1 cm diameter.
Distribution
Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand; Malesia: Malay Peninsula.
Habitat & Ecology
Margin of evergreen forests, mostly on wet soil, up to 500 m altitude; seems to be restricted to limestone. In clearings it is often spreading and becoming a low shrub.