Bauhinia foraminifer Gagnep. var. foraminifer
Morphological description foraminifer Bauhinia FM15
Low, scrambling, tendrilled climber ; young shoots slender, glabrous with short tendrils.
Leaves consisting of two free or almost free leaflets; stipules ovate, acute, c. 1.5 mm; petioles glabrescent, very slender to filiform, 1.5-3 cm, continuing in a short mucro; leaflets ovate-oblong, asymmetrical, tips rounded to subacute, usually 3-nerved, 2.5-6.5 by 1.5-2.5 cm, glabrous on upper surface, lower often glaucous, sparsely brownish to reddish pubescent, more dense on the nerves.
Inflorescence lateral and terminal corymbs with a 2-6 cm long, glabrous axis; pedicels glabrous, filiform, 3-5 cm long; bracts triangular, 1.3 mm; bracteoles smaller, inserted about the middle of the pedicel.
Flowers: Buds globose, apiculate, glabrous, 4-5 mm. Hypanthium narrow tubular, striate, 4-7 mm. Calyx splitting into 2-3(-4) reflexed lobes. Petals white, lanceolate to obovate, with undulate margin, 12-15 mm long with a distinct, 2-3 mm long claw; outside sparsely reddish hairy at the median zone. Stamens 3 fertile; filaments glabrous, 5-7 mm; anthers broader than long, 1.5 mm; staminodes 4-7, filiform, varying in length, shorter than or as long as the fertile stamens. Ovary glabrous, c. 3 mm; stipe short, 1-2 mm, with a few hairs at base; style glabrous, as long as ovary; stigma small, peltate.
Pods unknown.
Distribution
Malesia: Borneo (Sarawak, only found near Kuching).
Habitat
Notes are few but in the Baku National Park it reaches 100 m altitude. It has also been collected in heath forest, kerangas, on sandy soil.
Note
This variety has repeatedly been collected from the Kuching area where it is evidently not rare. In one collection the leaflets are joined in their lower third.