Climbing Orange

Shrubs (usually sprawling) or woody climbers, usually armed. Petiole 1-4 cm; leaflet blades usually sessile or subsessile, elliptic or narrowly elliptic to obovate to oblanceolate, 3-10 × 1-4 cm, base narrowly cuneate to attenuate, apex acuminate or rarely acute to obtuse or rounded. Inflorescences to 17 cm. Sepals 0.3-0.5 mm. Petals cream-white, ovate to elliptic, 1-3.5 mm. Stamens in male flowers 3-4 mm, in female flowers ligulate and 0.2-0.8 mm. Disk 0.2-0.5 mm. Gynoecium in female flowers ovoid to ellipsoid and 1.5-2.5 mm, in male flowers subcylindric and 1-2 mm. Fruit 5-10 mm in diam. Seeds 5-6.5 mm. Fl. year-round but mostly in spring and summer, fr. autumn and winter.

Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; Africa, Madagascar].

Africa, Himalaya (Nepal to Bhutan), India, Ceylon, Burma, east to China, Malaysia.

450-1700 m

Secondary forests, thickets; near sea level to 2000 m.

Paullinia asiatica Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 365. 1753, typ. cons.; Aralia labordei H. Léveillé; Toddalia asiatica var. floribunda (Wallich) Kurz; T. asiatica var. gracilis Gamble; T. asiatica var. obtusifolia Gamble; T. floribunda Wallich; T. tonkinensis Guillaumin.

asiatica: of Asia

Strong robust liane. The young branches are covered with sharp, hooked thorns. In older branches these form thickened knobs, which still maintain the hooks. Leaves 3-foliolate; leaflets elliptic to obovate, shiny green, paler below, covered with translucent gland-dots, with a strong citrus smell when crushed. Flowers in axillary and terminal clusters or branched inflorescences, cream to pale greenish-yellow. Fruit small, citrus-like, orange when ripe.

Common in the E Highlands

Papilio dardanus cenea (Mocker swallowtail) Papilio demodocus demodocus (Citrus swallowtail)

Africa from E and C Africa southwards to S Africa, Madagascar, the Mascarene Islands and India

Flowering year-round but mostly in spring and summer; fruiting in autumn and winter.

Toddalia asiatica is occurring in Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan of China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Africa, Madagascar.

Phylogeny and classification of Rutaceae subfamilies Rutoideae and Toddalioideae were inferred from plastid (trnL intron and trnL-F spacer) and nuclear (ITS-1 and ITS-2 rDNA) regions (Poon et al., 2007). Results support to merging these two subfamilies established by Engler based on different fruit types. Moreover, Phellodendron, Tetradium, Toddalia, and Zanthoxylum were resolved as a clade, supporting the proposal for a ‘proto-Rutaceae’ group.

Shrubs (usually sprawling) or woody climbers, usually armed. Petiole 1-4 cm; leaflet blades usually sessile or subsessile, elliptic or narrowly elliptic to obovate to oblanceolate, 3-10 cm long, 1-4 cm wide, base narrowly cuneate to attenuate, apex acuminate or rarely acute to obtuse or rounded. Inflorescences to 17 cm. Sepals 0.3-0.5 mm. Petals cream-white, ovate to elliptic, 1-3.5 mm. Stamens in male flowers 3-4 mm, in female flowers ligulate and 0.2-0.8 mm. Disk 0.2-0.5 mm. Gynoecium in female flowers ovoid to ellipsoid and 1.5-2.5 mm, in male flowers subcylindric and 1-2 mm. Fruit 5-10 mm in diameter. Seeds 5-6.5 mm.

The chromosomal number of Toddalia asiatica is 2n = 18 (Gunaseeli and Sampathkumar, 1985, 1990).

Growing in secondary forests, thickets; near sea level to 2000 m.