Dwarf Olax is a low undershrub, up to 1 ft tall, with
stem upright, green, ribbed. Flowers are borne singly in leaf-axils,
creamy or whitish. Petals are 3, about 5.5-6.5 mm long, oblong
lanceshaped, with inturned margin; fertile stamens 3, included, each
situated at the center of a petal; anthers about 1.5 mm long, filaments
rather broad; staminodes 6, hairless, a pair on each side of the
fertile stamen, about 2.5 mm long, and exceeding the stamens.
Flower-stalks about 1.2 cm long, slender. Sepal-cup is about 0.8 mm in
length, shallow, margin flat to irregularly and finely lobed, hyaline.
Leaves are simple, alternate, spiral, nearly stalkless; blade about 3-7
x 0.6-1.4 cm, oblong-lanceshaped, rounded at base, pointed at tip,
entire, hairless, glaucous beneath, deep green above, midrib prominent
on under-surface. Drupes are about 6 mm across, yellow when ripe,
nearly spherical, almost covered by the enlarged sepal-cup. Dwarf Olax
is found in Bangladesh, Himalaya, South India, Myanmar, Nepal,
Thailand. Flowering: April-May.
Identification credit: Ashutosh Sharma
Photographed in Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh.
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The flower labeled Dwarf Olax is ...