Floscopa scandens Lour.

Loureiro, J. de (1790) Flora Cochinchinensis Edn. 1 1: 193. Type: Habitat agrestis in montibus Cochinchinae.

Climbing Flower Cup

Stem creeping, rooting at the nodes, up to 30 cm tall.

Leaf blades 35-50 x 14-17 mm, petiole nil. Base of the leaf blade sheathing the stem. Leaf sheath clothed in hairs at the apex and down the open side. Venation longitudinal with 5-7 veins more prominent than the rest. Numerous small bumps visible on the upper surface of the leaf blade. When viewed with a lens these areas resemble 'oil dots'.

Inflorescence clothed in purplish glandular hairs, terminal or in the upper axils and consists of racemes 1-6 cm long. Flowers about 6 mm diam. Sepals elliptic or obovate, about 3 x 2 mm, outer surface clothed in glandular hairs. Petals elliptic, about 3.5 x 2 mm, lower petal narrower. Stamens 6, filaments 4-5 mm long, anthers yellow. Ovary stipitate, laterally compressed, about 0.8 mm long. Style single, unbranched, stigma one.

Capsule ovoid, compressed, about 2 × 2 mm. Seeds gray-blue, semiellipsoid, about 1.5 mm, shallowly radiate striate.

Features not available.

Occurs in NEQ. Altitudinal range from 10-80 m. Found along creeks in rainforest. Also occur in Bhutan, India, Laos, Myanmar, Sikkim, Thailand, Vietnam and Oceania.

Used medicinally as a febrifuge and for relieving pyodermas, abscesses, and acute nephritis (Wu & Raven 2000).