Capparis olacifolia

Capparis olacifolia Hook. fil. & Thoms., Fl. Brit. India 1: 178 (1872) ;
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Central & E. Himalaya to SE. Tibet and Myanmar: Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Tibet as per POWO;
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India (West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Orissa, NE-Andhra Pradesh), Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sikkim, Myanmar [Burma] (Chin, Kachin, Mandalay, Sagaing), SE-Tibet as per CoL;
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Common name: Olax-Leaf Caper • Assamese: Kotoha, Kota-khar, Lokra
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Erect shrub, ca. 5 m tall. Branches tomentose with brownish 5- armed stellate hair when young, glabrescent with ages; stipular thorns ca. 5-6 mm long, straight, pointing upwards; cataphyllus subulate, ca. 1-1.5 mm at base. Leaves simple, alternate; petioles ca. 5-6 mm long, puberulous; lamina. ca. 6-18 x 2.5-6.5 cm, ovate-lanceolate, rounded to subacute at base, acute to acuminate and mucronulate at apex, entire, chartaceous or firmly herbaceous, glabrous, lustrous, midrib flat; secondary nerves 5-8 pairs. Inflorescences supra-axillary rows, flowers 2-3, ca. 3-4 cm across, white, fetid; pedicels ca. 6-12 mm long, puberulous; Sepals ca. 7-10.5 x 2.5-6 mm, subequal, ovate-acute, concave, outer pair boat-shaped, inner pair lanceolate to elliptic, tomentose with white margins; petals ca. 14-25 x 4-6 cm, oblong or obovate to oblanceolate, outer pair white, inner pair with a purple or yellow blotch at base; stamens 32-38, exserted, equalling gynophore; anthers ca. 2 mm long, white, purple-veined, bluish when dry; gynophore ca. 2.5-3.5 cm long; Ovary ca. 4-5.5 cm long, ellipsoid, beaked, tomentose; style ca. 2 mm persistent; stigma knob-shaped; placentae 2. Fruit globose to ovoid, ca. 13-15 x 11-12 mm, red, black when dry, beaked at apex, pericarp fairly thick, glabrous; stalk thin, ca. 3-3.8 cm long. Seeds 1-3, ca. 4-5 x 6 mm in diam, brown.
Flowering: February-June. Fruiting: March-August
(Attributions: Ayyappan. N & V. Kokilavani, French Institute of Pondicherry, Compiled from various sources listed in the reference as per India Biodiversity Portal)
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Capparis olacifolia Hook.fil. & Thomson: 6 very high res. images.