Author: Prain
Morphological description (see also description of Genus Bauhinia ; Subgenus Phanera and Section Tubicalyx )
Slender, tendrilled (strychnoides Bauh tendr 139513) liana or climbing shrub , up to 30 m; stems not more than 2-3 cm diameter; young branches and tendrils glabrous, sulcate.
Leaves (strychnoidea Bauh lvs 139512) entire, coriaceous; stipules minute, very early caducous; petiole slender 1-3 cm, glabrous; lamina ovate to lanceolate, 4-11 by 2.5-8 cm, 3-5-nerved; entire, apex more of less acuminate, base rounded to cuneate; both sides glabrous, upper side glossy.
Inflorescence terminal and lateral racemes, dense-flowered, up to 30 cm long, ± rusty tomentose to almost glabrous; pedicels slender, glabrous or nearly so, c. 2 cm long; bracts subulate, 2-3 mm long; bracteoles very minute, scaly, inserted about the middle of the pedicel.
Flowers: Buds small, globose. Hypanthium short turbinate. Calyx campanulate, 4 mm long, with 5 minute teeth. Petals red, spathulate, subequal, 7-8 mm including the short claw, glabrous outside, more or less silky hairy inside along the midnerve. Stamens 3; filaments c. 7 mm long, glabrous; anthers 1.5 mm, opening by a longitudinal slit; staminodes 2, c. 4 mm long, and 2-3 minute, subulate. Ovary c. 4 mm long, very shortly stipitate, densely rusty hairy; style 2 mm, glabrous towards apex; stigma oblique, peltate.
Pods flat, woody, densely velvety, c. 11 by 3-6 cm.
Seeds 1-4, flat, orbicular, glossy, black, 1.5 cm diameter.
Distribution
Malesia: Malay Peninsula (Perak, Kelantan, Pahang, Selangor, Negri Sembilan).
Habitat
Seems to be confined to limestone hills at lower altitudes.
Vernacular name
Akar kunjit.