Lasianthus jackianus

Lasianthus jackianus Wight, Calcutta J. Nat. Hist. 6: 502 (1846) (syn: Mephitidia jackiana (Wight) Walp.; Nonatelia jackiana (Wight) Kuntze);
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India (Nilgiri Hills) as per POWO;
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Common name: Jack’s Lasianthus
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Shrubs 1-3 m high; branchlets hirsute, quandrangular when young, become terete with age. Leaves opposite, 11-19 x 2-5 cm, oblong, elliptic-oblong, or ovate-oblong, acuminate or caudate-acuminate at apex, unequally-rounded or subacute at base, thin coriaceous, hirsute, blackish green or pale brown when dry; midrib slender channelled above; lateral nerves 6-8 pairs, opposite or subopposite, subparallel, arcuate, channelled, inconspicuous above; nervules parallel, forked, branched, inconspicuous above; petioles subsessile or 0.8 mm long, stout, hirsute; stipules 4-6 x 2-4 cm, ovate, acute at apex, coriaceous, sparsely hirsute above, few colleters present at base beneath. Cymes axillary, sessile, 2-5 flowered; bracts foliaceous, 15-50 x 4-10 mm, ovate, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate at apex, rounded at base, thin coriaceous, hirsute; midrib slender; lateral nerves 2-4 pairs, slender; bracteoles 4-8 mm long, linear, subulate or linear-lanceolate, pubescent or hirsute, persistent. Flowers 6-7 mm long, sessile. Hypanthium 1 mm long, obovoid, tomentose above; calyx tube ± 0.5 x 0.5 mm, tomentose above; lobes 4, ovate-elliptic, acute, tomentose above. Corolla tube 3.5-4.5 mm long, glabrous above, puberulous beneath at throat; lobes 4, 2 mm long, ovate-elliptic, tomentose above, puberulous beneath. Stamens 4, subexserted; filaments 0.5 mm long thin, adnate at throat; anthers 0.5-0.75 mm long, oblong. Ovary 0.5 mm long, obovoid, 4-loculed; style 3.4 mm long, flattened, wider above; stigma 4-lobed; lobes ± 0.5 mm long, linear-oblong, papillose. Fruits 5-6 x 4-5 mm, globose, 4-ridged and grooved, crowned with persistent calyx lobes; pericarp thin, puberulous; stalk ± 0.5 mm long, tomentose; pyrenes 4, unequal in size, wrinkled, dorsally convex, ventrally angled; raphides present; seeds 3 mm long, oblong, acute at both ends, dorsally horned, ventrally concave.
Flowering and fruiting: November-March
Evergreen forests
Southern Western Ghats
(Attributions: Dr. N Sasidharan (Dr. B P Pal Fellow), Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi as per India Biodiversity Portal)
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Lasianthus jackianus images: 6 very high res. images.