Author: Gagnep.
KEY TO THE VARIETIES (foraminifer Bauhinia FM15 )
a. Leaflets ovate to ovate-oblong, 2.5-6.5 by 1.5-2.5 cm, tips obtuse to subacute.
.......... Bauhinia foraminifer foraminifer.
b. Leaflets ± falcate, larger, 4-10 by 2-3 cm, tips acute to acuminate.
................. Bauhinia foraminifer falcata.
a. Bauhinia foraminifer Gagnep. var. foraminifer (Bauhinia foraminifer foraminifer )
Morphological description (see also description of Genus Bauhinia ; Subgenus Phanera and Section Palmatifolia )
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, opening by a central pore in each theca; 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.
b. Bauhinia foraminifer Gagnep. var. falcata K. & S. S. Larsen (Bauhinia foraminifer falcata )
Morphological description
Deviates by its larger leaflets which are more or less falcate with acute to acuminate tips, and by the densely silky reddish-brown indumentum on the lower side of the young leaflets.
Distribution
Malesia: Borneo (Brunei),
Habitat
The type was collected at 275 m altitude, in `extreme heath forest (kerangas)' on sandstone ridge. So far only known from the type locality.