Beaumontia grandiflora
The Easter lily vine is native to Nepal, China and Indo-China.
The evergreen woody vines (lianas) can climb to 8 m and spread laterally for 4.5 m.
Small new branches have dense reddish-brown hairs that are lost on older stems.
Damaged stems and other parts exude a milky latex.
The opposite leaves are on a hairy petiole up to 2.5 or 3 cm long.
Leaves are up to 30 cm long and around 15 cm wide.
The blade can be ovate, obovate or elliptic with a short point on the rounded tip and a wedge-shaped base.
The mid-vein is prominent on both surfaces and the veins are depressed on the upper.
Hairs on young leaves are gradually lost.
Branched inflorescences, up to around 20 cm long have around 10 flowers.
Pedicels (flower stalks) and the leafy bracteoles under them are up to 4 cm long.
The 5 free green then reddish-brown sepals are up to 5 cm long.
They are obovate with an irregular edge, a pointed tip and prominent veins.
There are small hairs and the inner surface often has glands.
The corolla is up to 15 cm long and 10 cm across the lobe tips.
The narrow base of the corolla tube is 1.5 to 2 cm long.
This widens into a funnel-shaped section around 12 cm long.
The 5 ovate lobes, 3 to 4 cm long have a pointed tip.
The base is greenish and the rest white to cream.
There are hairs on the outer surface.
The 5 stamens are inserted onto the corolla tube around 3 cm from the base.
The free filaments, 5 to 6 cm long alternate with the corolla lobes.
The arrow-shaped anthers, around 1.5 cm long have long basal appendages.
The anthers are fused to, and hard to remove from the stigma.
The stamens and style do not extend past the corolla tube.
There is an annular nectary disk around the base of the ovary.
Its 5 lobes have a few hairs on the top.
The superior ovary, 3 mm high has short white hairs that extend onto the base of the style.
There are numerous ovules in each of the 2 locules.
The style, up to around 9 cm long has a spindle-shaped stigma.
The fruit is a paired follicle – one from each carpel.
The hard greenish woody follicles are up to 30 cm long and 5 cm wide.
The numerous flattened seeds, up to 2.5 cm long have a tuft of hairs up to 7 cm long at the end.
J.F.
