Luvunga scandens (Roxb.) Buch.-Ham. ex Wight, Ill. Ind. Bot. 1: 108 (1838) (syn: Luvunga motleyi (Pierre) Oliv., Luvunga nitida Pierre, Limonia scandens Roxb.);
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Assam to China (S. Yunnan, Guangdong) and W. Malesia: Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Laos, Malaya, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam as per POWO;
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Myanmar [Burma] (Taninthayi), Bangladesh, India (Assam, Meghalaya), Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, peninsular Malaysia, China (Guangdong, Hainan, S-Yunnan), Cambodia, Philippines (?Tawi-Tawi), Palawan as per CoL;
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Common name: Lavang Lata, Indian lavanga • Hindi: लवंग लता Lavang Lata • Manipuri: ꯂꯕꯡ ꯂꯇꯥ Labang Lata, ꯂꯕꯨꯡꯒꯣ Labungo • Kannada: jeeanthi balli, jeevani, kakkola, lavangalathe • Bengali: লবংগ লতা Lavang Lata • Assamese: লৱংগ লতা Lavang Lata • Sanskrit: Lavanga lata, dhankshika, dhira, dhmanksholi, गंधकोकिला gandhakokila, vayastha, lavali, kakoli, kayasthika
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Heavy woody climbers; bark ash coloured, rough tufted from the ground with strong axillary sharp straight or slightly recurved spines. Leaves compound, digitately 3-foliolate, alternate, spiral, simple when young; petioles ca. 3-6.5 cm long, channelled above, glabrous; lamina ca. 6.5-18 x 2.5-4 cm, variable, oblong-elliptic or oblanceolate, cuneate at base, acute or shortly acuminate at apex, entire, thick, coriaceous, glabrous; secondary nerves 15 pairs. Inflorescences in paniculate-racemes, often 4-6-flowered; peduncles ca. 7 mm long, glabrescent; calyx ca. 3.5-5 mm long, cupular; lobes 4, truncate, minute, ciliolate along margins; petals 4, ca. 12-16 x 3-4 mm, white, oblong, obtuse, glabrous, fleshy; stamens 8-10; filaments linear-subulate, connate; staminal tube ca. 12 mm long, glabrous; anthers ca. 5 mm long, linear, apiculate; ovary ca. 2.5 x 1.5 mm, long-ovoid, glabrous, 3-locular; each locule with 1 or 2 superimposed ovules; style ca. 7 mm long, continuous with ovary, cylindric, glandular, glabrous; stigma capitate ca. 2.5 mm broad, glandular. Berries ca. 20×25 mm, oblong; pericarp smooth, densely glandular or pustular, 3-locular. Seeds ovoid, green, pointed at apex; radicle superior,
Flowering: March-April. Fruiting: September.
Evergreen forests, up to 1500 m. Rare.
(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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Luvunga scandens: 2 images.
Luvunga scandens photographed in Imphal, Manipur.
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References:
POWO Catalogue of Life GBIF (High resolution specimens) BSI Flora of India Flora of China FoC illustration Flowers of India India Biodiversity Portal
