Ehretia microphylla Lam.

Lamarck, J.-B.P.A. de M. de (1792) Tableau Encyclopedique et Methodique 1, 2(1): 425. Type: "Ex India."

Scorpionbush

Usually flowers and fruits as a shrub 1-3 m tall.

Leaf blades about 0.5-3 x 0.5-1.5 cm, produced on burr-like, lateral, short shoots from the twigs. Leaf blades scabrous, particularly the upper surface which is equipped with numerous broad-based hairs pointing towards the apex of the leaf blade. Teeth confined to the apical half of the leaf blade margin.

Inflorescence not exceeding the leaves. Inflorescence clothed in scabrid hairs. Calyx lobes linear, about 4-5 mm long, almost twice as long as the petals. Corolla about 12 mm diam., lobes fused near the base, each about 5-7 x 3-4 mm. Ovary about 1 mm diam. Styles 2, each about 6-7 mm long, fused for about 1/3 of their length. Stigmas small, terminal.

Calyx hairy, five-lobed, persistent at the base. Fruit globose, about 5 mm diam. Endocarp longitudinally ribbed on the outer surface. Cotyledons much wider than the radicle.

Features not available.

Occurs in CYP and NEQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 500 m. Grows in monsoon forest and vine thickets. Also occurs in Malesia, China, India and the Solomon Islands.

This species may have some medicinal value.

Carmona microphylla (Lam.) G.Don, A General History of Dichlamydeous Plants 4(2): 391 (1839). Carmona retusa (Vahl) Masam., Transactions of the Natural History Society of Formosa 30: 61 (1940).