FoI
Wandering Oxyspora
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Wandering Oxyspora
ative Photo: Thingnam Sophia
Common name: Wandering Oxyspora
Botanical name: Oxyspora vagans    Family: Melastomataceae (Melastome family)
Synonyms: Melastoma vagans, Oxyspora paniculata var. vagans

Wandering Oxyspora is a shrub 1-2 m tall. Stems are obtusely 4-sided or cylindrical. Leaf stalks are 1.5-5.5 cm long. Leaf blade is ovate to elliptic, 11-16.5 cm long, 5-7.5 cm wide, papery to nearly membranous, secondary veins 2 or 3 on each side of midvein, base rounded to nearly hear-shaped, margin toothed with each tooth having a terminal seta, apex acuminate. Flowers are borne in cyme-like panicles, 12-25 × 2.6-6 cm, at the end of branches, with 2 leaflike bracts at base. Flowers look very similar to those of Bristletips. Sepals are inconspicuous. Petals are 4, pink to red, ovate, about 6 mm. Stamens are of two types. Longer and shorter ones have connective swollen and shortly spurred at base. Capsule is elliptic, about 5.5 × 4 mm. Flowering: October.

Identification credit: Pankaj Kumar Photographed in Leimaraam, Manipur.

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