Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Thunbergia mysorensis (Wight) T.Anderson


Weed
Vine
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Flower [not vouchered]. CC-BY J.L. Dowe
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
Vine stem bark and vine stem transverse section. © CSIRO
Family

Beddome, R.H. (1867) Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany 9: 448. Type: India or.

Common name

Mysore Trumpet Vine; Lady's Slipper; Vine, Mysore Trumpet

Stem

Numerous suckers or runners produced from the base of the stem.

Leaves

Leaf blades about 9-17 x 3-8 cm, petioles about 2-4.5 cm long, swollen at the junction with the twigs. 'Oil dots' visible in patches in the leaf blade.

Flowers

Flowers borne in pendulous racemes about 35-100 cm or more long, pedicels about 3 cm long. Flowers large, about 7 x 4 cm, often subtended by leafy bracts about 30 x 15 mm. Calyx lobes small and inconspicuous, about 3-5 mm long. Perianth constricted around and immediately above the ovary. Staminal filaments about 45 mm long. Anthers about 8-10 mm long, ciliate. Anther locules tailed and bearded at the base. Ovary about 5-6 mm long. Disk cream or yellow, fleshy, surrounding the base of the ovary. Style about 55 mm long. Stigma about 5 mm long, funnel-shaped.

Seedlings

Features not available.

Distribution and Ecology

An introduced species originally from India, occasionally encountered in the wild in NEQ but there is real doubt about it being naturalised as it does not appear to set fruit. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 750 m. Usually grows around towns or on old settlement sites.

Natural History & Notes

A spectacular evergreen climber cultivated extensively but has now escaped in several areas.

RFK Code
2238
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