Author: (de Wit) Cusset
Morphological description (see also description of Genus Bauhinia ; Subgenus Phanera and Section Phanera )
Slender climber; young branches finely pubescent, later glabrous.
Leaves gracillima Bauhinia TYPE leaf : stipules narrow triangular, acute, early caducous; petioles (1.5-)3-8 cm, very slender; lamina suborbicular, often broader than long, 5-10 cm diameter, 11-13-nerved; nerves very prominent below; bifid 1/3 - 1/2 with rather narrow sinus; tip of lobes broadly rounded, base truncate to shallowly cordate; upper surface glabrous or nearly so, lower minutely appressed pubescent.
Inflorescences gracillima Bauhinia TYPE infl few-flowered, terminal corymbs; pedicels very slender, 3.5-5 cm, subglabrous; bracts linear, 3-5 mm, glabrous; bracteoles filiform, 3-4 mm, inserted below the middle of the pedicel.
Flowers: Buds narrowly fusiform, sparsely pubescent, 10-12 by 2-3 mm. Hypanthium turbinate, c. 2 mm. Calyx splitting into 2-3 finally reflexed lobes. Petals greenish, 1.5-2.5 cm long including the very narrow to almost filiform, 5-15 mm long claw; the blade narrowly lanceolate with finely undulate margin, inside pubescent towards the claw, outside glabrous. Stamens 2 fertile, filaments glabrous, 10-13 mm, slender; anthers c. 2 mm long, opening by a longitudinal slit. Staminodes c. 7, small, 1-2 mm, with broadened base, some with minute anthers. Ovary 4-5 mm on a c. 3 mm long, slender stipe, puberulous; style slender, 5-7 mm, glabrous; stigma inconspicuous.
Pods unknown.
Distribution
Malesia: endemic to Borneo (NE Sandakan, only few collections known from the Kaloili-Sepilok Forest Reserve).
Vernacular name
Langkop (Murut).
Note
De Wit, (1956: 474), quoted the flowers as olive green from the label of the holotype; on a new collection from the same area the collector notes `flowers white'.