Tinospora crispa (L.) Hook.f. & Thomson

Turner, I. M., 2023, Revision of Tinospora (Menispermaceae - Chasmantheroideae - Burasaieae) in Singapore, European Journal of Taxonomy 900, pp. 180-193 : 181-183

Tinospora crispa (L.) Hook.f. & Thomson

Fig. 1

Flora Indica 1: 183 ( Hooker & Thomson 1855). – Menispermum crispum L. , Species Plantarum, ed. 2: 1468 ( Linnaeus 1763), basionym. – Menispermum tuberculatum Lam., Encyclopédie méthodique. Botanique 4: 96 (Lamarck 1797), nom. illegit., superfl. – Cocculus crispus (L.) DC., Regni vegetabilis systema naturale 1: 521 ( De Candolle 1817). – Chasmanthera crispa (L.) Baill ., Traité de botanique médicale phanérogamique 1: 706 ( Baillon 1883). – Tinospora rumphii Boerl., Catalogus plantarum phanerogamarum quae in Horto Botanico Bogoriensi coluntur: 116 ( Boerlage 1899), nom. illegit., superfl. – Tinospora tuberculata Beumée ex K.Heyne, De nuttige planten van Nederlandsch-Indie, ed. 2, 1: 619 ( Heyne 1927), nom. illegit., superfl.

– Type: [published illustration] ‘Funis felleus’, Rumphius, Herb. Amboin. 5: t. 44, f. 1 (1747); lectotype designated by Forman (1981) .

Menispermum verrucosum Roxb. in Fleming, Asiatick Researches 11: 171 ( Fleming 1810). – Cocculus verrucosus (Roxb.) Wall. , A numerical list of dried specimens (1831–1832) no. 4988 ( Wallich 1831 – 1832). – Tinospora verrucosa (Roxb.) W.Theob., Burmah, ed. 4, 2: 656 ( Theobald 1883).

– Type: [unpublished illustration] Icones Roxburghianae 1708; lectotype K, designated by Forman (1981) .

Tinospora thorelii Gagnep. , Bulletin de la Société Botanique de France 55: 46 ( Gagnepain 1908).

– Type: Cochinchine, 1862–1866, C. Thorel 350; lectotype P [ P00744851 ] image!, designated at the first step by Diels (1910), and at the second step here; isolectotype P [ P00744852 ] image !.

Tinospora mastersii Diels in Engler, Das Pflanzenreich IV, 94(46): 140 ( Diels 1910).

– Type: India, Assam, Masters s.n.; holotype CAL [ CAL0000004757 ] image!; isotypes B [ B 10 0294284 ] image!, K [ K000644589 ]! .

Tinospora gibbericaulis Hand.-Mazz. , Anzeiger der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien. Mathematische-naturwissenschaftliche Klasse 60: 95 ( Handel­Mazzetti 1924 ‘1923’).

– Type: China, Yunnan, Manhao prope fines Tonkinenses , 1 Mar. 1915, H.R.E. von Handel-Mazzetti Iter Sinense 5816; holotype W † ; lectotype WU [sheet. no. 39366] image!, designated here, isolectotype A [ A00038940 ] image !.

Additional material examined

SINGAPORE • Mosque at Jalan Inggu, 26 Oct. 1994, E. Tang & Sidek 176; SING [ SING0042526 ] • Singapore Botanic Gardens , 16 ??? 1921, Deshmukh s.n.; SING [ SING0243589 ] • Singapore Botanic Gardens , 5 Mar. 2014, Leong et al. SING 2014-086 ; SING [ SING0212364 ] • Pulau Ubin , Chek Jawa, 17 Dec. 2002, A. T. Gwee GAT112 ; SING [ SING0042802 ] • Kent Ridge Park , 16 Sep. 1997, J. Lai LJ 263; SING [ SING0030110 ] .

Description

Large woody climber with many pale, smooth, descending adventitious roots. Stem glabrous, succulent, tuberculate, each tubercle conical, topped by a pale lenticel with an outer woody ring, often radially cracked, and a central woody plug, bark thin, drying dark coppery brown, surface smooth and shiny, younger stems drying brown or grey, irregularly longitudinally wrinkled, wrinkles sharp-edged; cut stems producing a milky sap, very bitter to the taste. Leaves membranous to chartaceous, glabrous, not peltate, basally 5-nerved with small hollow domatia in axils of nerve bases, main nerves slightly raised above in dry leaves, raised beneath and minutely papillate (requires magnification), lamina broadly ovate, 10–15 × 7.5–13 cm, base cordate to almost sagittate, apex acute and acuminate, acumen fine and sharp-pointed, reticulations dense, distinct from below, more obscure from above; petiole 5–10 cm long, drying ca 2 mm wide, glabrous, drying light to dark brown, longitudinally striate, not notably swollen at either end, basally geniculate. Inflorescences arising behind leaves, main axis typically unbranched, male inflorescences to 18 cm long, main axis ca 1.5 mm wide near base, drying longitudinally striate, glabrous, bearing widely spaced, 1–3­flowered fascicles each subtended by a small, upcurved, lanceolate bracteole, ca 1 mm long, 0.5 mm wide at base, apex acute; female inflorescences shorter, 2–6 cm long with flowers mostly borne singly, each subtended by a bract as in male. Male flowers yellow, pedicel 2–3 mm long, 0.3 mm wide, outer sepals 3, ovate, ca 1.5 mm long, 1 mm wide, inner sepals 3, elliptic, 3 mm long, 2 mm wide, apex obtuse to rounded, margin minutely ciliate, base clawed, petals 3, oblanceolate, 2 mm long; ca 0.4 mm wide, clasping alternate stamens, stamens 6, ca 2 mm long, anthers with thecae slightly oblique. Female flowers as in male, staminodes 6, to 1 mm long, carpels 3, ellipsoidal, 2 mm long, stigma shortly lobed. Fruits ellipsoidal, to 2 cm long, ripening orange, endocarp white, ellipsoidal, 11–13 × 7–9 mm, surface faintly rugulose, slight longitudinal dorsal ridge, becoming more prominent at base and apex, elliptic ventral aperture ca 2 mm long, 1 mm wide, intrusive condyle.

Female flowers and fruits unknown among Singapore collections. Description of these made with reference to material from Thailand.

Distribution

Probably native in mainland South­East Asia and the Philippines but often cultivated as a medicinal plant ( Burkill 1935, sub T. tuberculata ) and spread anthropogenically across tropical Asia. In Singapore, it occurs as a relict of cultivation.

Notes

Tinospora crispa is only rarely collected in flower in Singapore, and has never been collected in fruit. The densely tuberculate stems readily distinguish it from the other species of Tinospora occurring in Singapore.

In accordance with ICN ( Turland et al. 2018) Art. 9.17, a second­stage lectotypification is presented here, as Diels (1910) failed to distinguish between the two specimens of Thorel 350 in the Paris Herbarium when referring to the type of Tinospora thorelii .

Figures

Fig. 1. Tinospora crispa (L.) Hook.f. & Thomson growing in Singapore showing the densely tuberculate stems. Photo: Yeoh Yi Shuen.