Author: Prain
Morphological description (see also description of Genus Bauhinia ; Subgenus Phanera and Section Palmatifolia )
Tendrilled climber ; young branches terete, glabrous.
Leaves coriaceous; stipules early caducous (not seen); petioles slender, up to 2.5 cm; lamina with deeply cordate base; apex shortly acuminate to emarginate or shallowly bifid; nerves 5-7; 4-7 by 3.5-5 cm, upper surface glabrous, lower almost glabrous except for the thinly pubescent nerves.
Inflorescence simple, lateral or terminal, few-flowered corymbs or larger, lax panicles of rather few-flowered corymbs; peduncles glabrous; pedicels sparsely puberulous, 1.5-3 cm; bracts lanceolate, 2-4 mm; bracteoles subulate, tiny, early caducous, inserted about the middle of the pedicel.
Flowers: Buds rusty pubescent, subglobose, 8-9 mm including the campanulate to infundibuliform, striate hypanthium, 3-4 by 2-2.5 mm, shorter than sepals. Calyx splitting into 2-3 patent lobes. Petals orange-yellow turning red, subequal, oblanceolate, obtuse, shortly clawed, 12-15 mm long, with crenulate-undulate margin, finely rusty pubescent dorsally. Stamens 3 fertile, filaments thin, 7-10 mm, hirsute; anthers opening by a central pore in each theca. Ovary c. 5 mm, rusty pubescent along the suture; stipe c. 1 mm; style puberulous, c. 4 mm; stigma small, peltate.
Pods according to Prain, (1897: 189), glabrous, narrowly ovate, c. 7 cm long.
Seeds 1-2, ovate, compressed.
Distribution
Malesia: Malay Peninsula (Perak, Selangor and Pahang).
Habitat
Seems to be restricted to altitudes between 1000 and 1600 m.
Notes
1. Prain (1897: 189) also reported this species from Borneo based on a specimen collected by Beccari; this, however, is Bauhinia wrayi .
2. This is a rather distinct taxon characterized by the short campanulate to infundibuliform hypanthium, the long and thin filaments, and the deeply cordate, coriaceous leaves. De Wit (1956: 498) suggested that Bauhinia monticola Ridley belongs here, but this is not the case.
3. The description above is (except the pods) based on the three specimens available to us.