On the way to Tiger hill near Ghum. Darjeeling. West Bengal.... Sprawling shrub with clusters of small white flowers, almost hidden under the leaves of the arching stems. Hopefully this will be an easy one.
Thanks for the suggestion Lorax However,flowers on Spondias mombin are large panicle/ sprays. http://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/bioinformatics/dfm/metas/view/18052 Flowers of mystery shrub were small and tight to the twig. There is also a small round leaf between the opposite leaves, on the top of the twig.( see pic 3) It was a multi stemmed shrub. Showed no sign of growing into a tree. There were lots of them.
I'm stumped then. Flowering close to the twig like that is something I associate with Solanums, but by the flowers that's obviously not what you've got.
This is similar to one of your earlier posts - both had opposite or nearly opposite leaves that emerge on the same plane. Would that not be a trait that will narrow the number of possibilities, say, to a particular family? Just dove around in the Urticaceae family at plantsystematics.org trying out this idea - no luck.
I was so stunned by this suggestion that it looked like my earlier plant that I failed to comment. The 2 were like chalk and cheese. The plant in my other post, was a low growing herbaceous plant with flowers in balls, so tiny that even with a macro shot it does not show any detail. It was id as being Urticaceae, thanks to paion. http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=68816 This is a large shrub sprawling maybe 4ft tall. With big leaves and flowers that you can see growing under the leaves at 1st. See pic 4 and 5 showing underside of leaves. Rather in the manner of a shrubby Honeysuckle. It has 5 petals and a large stigma. So thank you for your suggestion but I do not think they are even in the same family!!!!
If adding these two plants to a database full of herbaceous traits, I would very definitely list this feature as a sort. The plants are like chalk and cheese in other ways, but like cheese and cheese for the leaf emergence/arrangement list of traits. This mixture of attributes is very distinct and would have caught my eye if a sojourner on this path... Cheers to you.
Thanks for this suggestion paion. I waited in the hope someone else might chip in. I should have mentioned that in the 1st pic, the huge shrub in the backgound is also the same plant. A friend has made the suggestion of Leycesteria glaucophylla, On some site it says syn with Lonicera glaucophylla. Lonicera was my very first though, with the opposite leaves and arching habit... but my searches got nowhere! http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?22579 No pics or herbarium specimens on www. Just this very detailed botanical description. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=242423833 So is that a definite match????
Great news. I finally nailed it. Leycesteria stipulata. Previously Lonicera stipulata. Of all the pics I took this has bugged me more than anything else. A. Because it was so very common, I felt it would be easy. B. Because I took so many clear pics to show the detail, I felt it would be obvious to everyone. http://apps.kew.org/herbcat/getImage.do?imageBarcode=K000076878 http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200022275 This link even shows it as a common shrub in Ghoom. ( The local town) http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...onepage&q=leycesteria stipulata ghoom&f=false
Congratulations! Although it is so common, the google shows just few pictures of Leycesteria stipulata with few details.
Adding my congrats to Andrey's. Way to go! Applaud your persistence and passion for accuracy. May we all be inspired by your example!
Continued..... This weekend 18th September 2021, I managed to get to the West coast of Scotland U.K...to Arduaine Gardens...National trust Scotland. arduaine gardens - Google Search Rain was torrential over night so pics not brilliant. Found this straggly shrub with opposite leaves and a stipule. Thought it was yet another honeysuckle...but internet search took me to Leycesteria stipulata...my own pic! Including this thread./flickr Flickr Search — “leycesteria stipulata” LEYCESTERIA STIPULATA. 13-11-2011 22-17-21 I believe I have got the next stage..... the shrub has developed pendulous seeds....hairy. It now looks like the more familiar Leycesteria we all know. Leycesteria - Wikipedia Quote....Species Leycesteria crocothyrsos Leycesteria formosa Leycesteria glaucophylla Leycesteria gracilis Leycesteria sinensis Leycesteria stipulata Leycesteria thibetica See also.... Leycesteria stipulata in Flora of China @ efloras.org Illustration: Leycesteria stipulata..1 and 2 only Berry.....Lanate...definition.....covered with fine hair or hairlike filaments : woolly. Looks as if another visit next spring /summer will be needed to catch it in flower in UK. .
See new correction thread below Recent pics as posted on Wednesday 22nd September 2021......are now confirmed as Leycesteria crocothyros Correction.
