Crawfurdia speciosa

Family: Gentianaceae

Date/Time- November 2009

Location- Place, Altitude, GPS- Rishap/8500ft

Habitat- Garden/ Urban/ Wild/ Type- Wild

Plant Habit- Tree/ Shrub/ Climber/ Herb- Annual/ climbing plant

Height/Length- 4.5-5 meters

Stem- Stems twining, terete, glabrous, internodes 5-13 cm. Petiole 5-7 mm

Leaves Type/ Shape/ Size- leaf blade ovate, 4-7 × (1.5-)2-3 cm, leathery, base rounded, margin crenulate, apex acuminate, veins 3-5.

Inflorescence Type/ Size- Inflorescences 1-flowered or cymes. Pedicel 1-6 cm; bractlets 1 pair, lanceolate, less than 10 × 2 mm

Flowers Size/ Colour/ Calyx/ Bracts- Calyx campanulate; tube 1-1.2 cm, apex with a transparent intracalycular membrane, entire or less often split on 1 side; lobes triangular, 2-3 × 1-1.5 mm, apex acute. Corolla blue-purple to purple, campanulate, 4-4.5 cm; lobes broadly ovate-triangular, ca. 3 × 5 mm, apex acute; plicae semiorbicular to truncate, oblique, ca. 1 × 3-4 mm, margin crenulate. Stamens inserted at middle of corolla tube; filaments linear-subulate, 1-1.3 cm; anthers sagittate, ca. 6 mm. Nectaries narrowly ovate. Style linear, ca. 8 mm including linear stigma lobes

Fruits Type/ Shape/ Size Seeds-  Berry 32-60 mm long, 30-45 mm in diameter, mammose, the basal protuberances 3 or 5, orange, shiny.

Other Information like Fragrance, Pollinator, Uses etc. Capsules dark brown, ellipsoid, compressed, 2-3 × ca. 1.2 cm, included in corolla to exserted; gynophore 1.5-3.5 cm. Seeds brown, discoid, ca. 1.5 mm in diam., broadly winged. Fl. and fr. Sep-Dec.

Flora of China  FOC illustration  Type of Crawfurdia speciosa Wall.  Flowers of India  India Biodiversity Portal