B. robii

Culture

Endangered Status

Endangered (EN B1ab(iii), EN B2ab(iii)

Original Botanical Description or Link to

Perenial monoecious herb, up to 10 cm tall. Stem rhizomatous, light green with few white spots, sparsely hairy at the joint of stem and petiole, thickened and brown in older stems, rooting at the nodes, diameter 3–5 mm, internodes compressed 3 –8 mm. Leaves alternate; stipules persistent, ovate, 8–10 × 7–9 mm, pale green, asymmetric, midrib abaxially prominent, hairy along the midrib to the apex extension, apex narrowed and extended up to 2 cm long; petioles 3–9.5 cm long, reddish brown, terete, with long white pilose hairs, up to 4 mm long; lamina basifixed, broadly ovate, 4–7 × 6–9 cm, asymmetric, reniform, margin cre- nate, ciliate with recurved stiff teeth at the end of the veins, base cordate, rarely overlapped, apex mostly rounded, rarely shortly acute, adaxially light green on the veins and the leaf base, dark purple patches between the veins and light green blotches, glabrous, bullate, abaxially paler, sparse- ly hairs along the veins; venation palmate, primary veins 6–7, actinodromous, secondary craspedrodo- mous. Inflorescences bisexual, axillary, protan- drous, cymes branching once dichasially at the base and at the two lateral branches branching monochasially, with up to 4 male flowers and one female at the apex, peduncle 7–13 cm long, pale green, sparsely hairy; bracts persistent, elliptic, ca. 3 × 2 mm, margin fringed, bracteoles minute, hair- like. Male flowers: pedicels 12–22 mm long, white, glabrous to sparsely hairy; tepals 4, unequal, 2 outer tepals elliptic to obovate, ca. 8‒13 × 8–10 mm, margin entire, apex acute to rounded, white tinged pink, abaxially surface glabrescent; 2 inner tepals spatulate, 5–12 × 3–4.5 mm, margin entire, apex rounded; androecium globose, yellow; stamens 46–50, outer anthers subsessile, inner anthers on filaments about the same length as the anther, anthers 0.50 mm long, obtriangular, apex retuse, dehiscing through lateral slits about half the length of the anther. Female flowers: pedicel 8–18 mm long, pale green, glabrous; tepals 2–3, unequal, white or white tinged with pink, 2 outer tepals elliptic, 4‒12 × 7‒8.5 mm, margin entire, apex rounded, inner tepal(s) narrowly obovate, 4‒ 5 × 1‒2 mm margin entire, apex rounded; ovary (excluding wings) ovoid to ellipsoid, ca. 8 × 5‒6 mm, reddish, glabrous, locules 3, placentation axile, placentae entire, total size including the wings ca. 12 × 11 mm, capsule three locular, placentae entire; wings 3, equal to subequal, base truncate to cuneate, apex cuneate, widest point at the middle part up to ca. 6 mm long; stigmas 3, yellow, Y-shaped, ca. 4 mm long, surface once spirally twisted. Fruit: pendent on a thin 10–20 mm long pedicels, recurved, seed bearing part ovoid to ellipsoid, ca. 8.5 × 6.5 mm, tip beaked, wings shape as for ovary, widest point up to 6 mm long (middle part). Seeds unknown.