Procris crenata C. B. Rob.

Herbs perennial or subshrubs, epiphytic or epilithic. 30-80 cm tall. Stems branched or simple, somewhat woody basally, succulent, many striate, glabrous. Leaves often on upper stems or branches, glabrous; stipules deciduous, ovate, very small; petiole 1.5-12 mm; leaf blade narrowly oblong, elliptic, or oblanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 8-20 × 2.2-4.5 cm, membranous or herbaceous, lateral veins 5-8 pairs, base attenuate or narrowly cuneate, margin crenate-serrate or undulate distally, apex acuminate; cystoliths slightly conspicuous or inconspicuous. Male inflorescences proximal to female ones, clusters often on leafless nodes, short and thinly pedunculate; female inflorescence an axillary cluster of 1-7 heads, each on a short and thick peduncle or sessile, globose, 2-4 mm in diam.; bracteoles obovate or elliptic, ca. 0.4 mm, glabrous. Male flowers 5-merous; perianth lobes oblong or ovate, ca. 1.5 mm, corniculate below apex. Female flowers sessile; perianth lobes often 4, ca. 3.5 mm, glabrous. Ovary ellipsoid, ca. 0.3 mm. Achene narrowly ovoid, compressed, 0.6-0.8 mm, often minutely punctate. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Aug-Oct.

S Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, SW Guizhou, S Sichuan, Taiwan, S Xizang, SW Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; Africa].

Africa, Subtropical Himalaya (Nepal to Bhutan), India, Ceylon, Indo-China, China, Taiwan, Bonin, Philippines.

150-1200 m

Shady, moist places in forests, mossy rocks, tree trunks, along streams; 300-2000 m.

Elatostema gagnepainianum H. Schroeter; Pellionia procropioides Gagnepain; Procris wightiana Wallich ex Weddell, nom. illeg. superfl.

crenata: crenate or scalloped (though usually serrate on the leaf margin).

Perennial herb without stinging hairs, often epiphytic or lithophytic, with succulent stems 1-2 cm thick and 40-50 cm long. Leaves towards the end of the stems, opposite with one leaf in a pair reduced in size or absent, thus appearing alternate. Lamina up to 12 cm long, asymmetrically lanceolate-elliptic; margin serrate. Flowers in clusters, axillary or along the stems below the leaves, unisexual with male inflorescences rather rare.

Occasional

Widespread but never common in highlands of tropical Africa and Madagascar.