Bandicoot Berry

Erect shrubs to small trees. Branchlets terete, longitudinal ridges obtuse, glabrous. Leaves 2- or 3-pinnate, glabrous; stipules broadly obovate, 2.5-4.5 × 2-3.5 cm, apex rounded, glabrous; petiole 13-23 cm, central petiolules 2-5 cm, lateral petiolules shorter, 0.2-0.5 cm, glabrous; leaf axis 14-30 cm, glabrous; leaflets elliptic, elongate elliptic, or elliptic-lanceolate, 6-32 × 2.5-8 cm, base rounded, or rarely broadly cuneate, margin with irregular or slightly regular teeth, teeth sharp, apex acuminate or caudate; lateral veins 6-11 pairs, abaxial veinlets conspicuous but not protruding. Inflorescences opposite to leaves, compound dichasial or umbelliform; peduncle 1-2 cm, with brown hairs. Involucre elliptic-lanceolate, ca. 0.8 × 0.3-0.8 cm, apex acuminate, glabrous; bracts oval elliptic-lanceolate, 3-4 × 2.5-3 mm, apex shortly acute and acuminate, glabrous, deciduous. Pedicel 1-2 mm, ferruginous pubescent; buds 1.5-2 mm, apex suborbicular. Calyx tube urceolate; sepal triangular, glabrous. Petals elliptic, 1.8-2.5 mm, glabrous, white or greenish white. Staminodial tube 0.5-1 mm, with lower fused part 0.2-0.3 mm, upper 0.3-0.7 mm, lobes 0.1-0.2 mm. Stamens 5; filaments 0.5-0.8 mm; anthers elliptic, 0.8-1.5 × 0.4-0.8 mm. Ovary globose; style 0.5-0.7 mm; stigma expanded slightly. Berry 0.8-1 cm in diam., 4-6-seeded. Fl. Apr-Jul, fr. Aug-Dec. 2n = 24.

Himalaya (Nepal, Sikkim), India, Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, Indo-China, China, Malaysia, N. Australia, Polynesia.

Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Yunnan [Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; N Australia, Pacific islands].

150-200 m

Forests, shrublands; 200-1200 m.

Staphylea indica N. L. Burman, Fl. Indica, 75. 1768; Aquilicia sambucina Linnaeus, nom. illeg. superfl.; Leea sambucina Willdenow, nom. illeg. superfl.; L. umbraculifera C. B. Clarke.

Leea indica, the bandicoot berry, is a large shrub in the family Vitaceae. It is seen as common undergrowth in secondary and disturbed evergreen forests in Indomalaya, Indochina, Australia and Pacific Islands and throughout in the Western Ghats of India.