Rourea minor (Gaertn.) Alston

Lianas or climbing shrubs, to 25 m tall. Branchlets dark brown, terete, glabrous or sparsely pubescent when young. Leaves odd-pinnate, rarely 1-foliolate; petiole, rachis, and petiolules glabrous; leaflets 1–3-paired, usually 1-paired; leaflet blade ovate or elliptic to lanceolate, 3–12 × 2–5 cm, (terminal one ovate or long elliptic and larger), papery, glabrous and smooth on both surfaces, lateral veins 5–10-paired, jointed near margin, midvein and reticulate veins prominent abaxially, base broadly cuneate to rounded, equilateral or slightly oblique, margin entire, apex acute to shortly acuminate. Inflorescences axillary or pseudoterminal, laxly paniculate or subracemose with 1–6 axes, 3–9 cm, many flowered, central one much longer than others; rachis and pedicels glabrous. Flowers ca. 1 cm in diam., fragrant. Sepals ovate, 2–3 × 1.5–2 mm, margin ciliate at apex. Petals white or yellow, long elliptic, 4–6 × 1–1.5 mm, glabrous, longitudinally striate. Stamens 2–6 mm. Carpels free, ca. 4 mm, glabrous. Follicle dark green, turning black when dry, obliquely ellipsoid, slightly curved, 1.5–2.5 × 0.7–1.5 cm, longitudinally striate, dehiscing along adaxial suture, with persistent calyx, apex acute. Seed red, ellipsoid, 1.5–2 × 0.6–1 cm, base covered by membranous aril. Fl. Apr–Oct, fr. May–Mar of following year.

Guangdong, Taiwan, Yunnan [Cambodia, India, Laos, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; N Australia].

Dense mixed forests, bamboo woods, thickets, hills; below 800 m.

Aegiceras minus Gaertner, Fruct. Sem Pl. 1: 216. 1788; Connarus roxburghii Hooker & Arnott; C. santaloides Vahl; Rourea millettii Planchon; R. santaloides (Vahl) Wight & Arnott; Santalodes hermanniana Kuntze, nom. illeg. (included C. santaloides); Santaloides minor (Gaertner) G. Schellenberg; S. roxburghii Kuntze.

minor: lesser, smaller

A climbing shrub or woody liane. Leaves imparipinnate with 2-5 pairs of leaflets and a terminal leaflet; leaflets ovate-elliptic, 7-10 cm long, hairless, with a distinct drip-tip. Flowers in axillary sprays, white to pinkish, fragrant. Fruit an ovoid capsule, c. 2 × 1.2 cm, pointed at the apex, dehiscent.

from W Africa to Sudan and Southwards to Angola, DRC, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe

Rourea minor is a large scandent shrub from the family Connaraceae. It has been recorded from Africa, tropical Asia and the Pacific.