Saraca declinata

Author: (Jack) Miquel

Morphological description
Tree to 10(-29) m tall and 10(-60) cm in diameter, sometimes treelet 3-6 m tall; buttresses very small.

Leaves (1-)3-5(-7)-jugate, subsessile to shortly petioled; petiole and rachis (4.5-)8.5-56 cm long (declinata Saraca lf 386577). Leaflets subcoriaceous, elliptic-lanceolate, lanceolate, or oblanceolate 4-30(-50) by 1.5-11(-20) cm, glabrous; apex acuminate, acute, or obtuse; base cuneate, obtuse, or rounded, rarely subcordate for the lowest pair, symmetric; midrib slightly elevated above, prominent beneath; nerves 6-12 per side; often subsessile, sometimes petiolules up to c. 10 mm.

Inflorescences up to 15(-30) cm wide (declinata Saraca view 139546), slightly pubescent or subglabrous, main branches (1-)7-10(-30) cm long, up to c. 3 mm in diameter; bracts usually smaller than the bracteoles, ovate or obovate, 3-12 by 1.5-7 mm, persistent or caducous, puberulous or minutely ciliate on the margin; bracteoles broadly elliptic, ovate, or sometimes obovate, 4-19 by 3-10 mm, glabrous or minutely ciliate on the margin, persistent, sometimes deciduous; pedicels 10-15(-35) mm, the length between bracteoles and flower 3-6 mm.

Flowers yellow, orange (declinata Saraca infl 139547), pink, pinkish red, fragrant, articulated near the base, puberulous outside. Hypanthium 7-15(-32) mm long, 0.5-1.5 mm wide at the throat. Calyx lobes ovate, elliptic, or obovate, 6-15 by 3-7 mm. Stamens (3 or)4(or 5); filaments 16-38 mm, glabrous; anthers ellipsoid or oblong, c. 0.7 mm long; staminodes absent. Pistil stipitate, free part of stipe 1.5-4 mm, hairy; ovary 2.5-7 mm long, puberulous, 6-8(-10)-ovuled; style 7-20 mm; stigma minute, round (declinata Sar infl/fl/pod FT24).

Pods dark brown, oblong or lanceolate, 7-31 by 3-7 cm, up to c. 1.2 cm thick, woody, 6-8-seeded, with straight or curved, up to c. 1 cm long beaked apex, and cuneate or obliquely rounded base, valves coiling (declinata Saraca pod/lvs MvB).

Seeds ovoid-oblong, c. 4 by 2 cm, and c. 7 mm thick.

Distribution
Burma (east of the Irrawaddy R.), Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand; Malesia : Sumatra, Riau, Lingga and Anambas Islands, Malay Peninsula (throughout), Borneo (Brunei, Sarawak, Sabah, Kalimantan), E Java, Lesser Sunda Islands (Flores).

Habitat & Ecology
In primary and mixed dipterocarp forests, often along rivers and streams, sometimes in swamp forests or secondary vegetation, on slope hill, basalt hillside, clay or clay loam soil, rich soil, and occasionally on slopes of limestone hills, up to 800 m altitude Fl. and fr. all the year round.

%LABEL% (%SOURCE%)