20 
Card. Bull. Singapore 69(1) 2017 
shortly hairy; lamina ovate, sometimes obovate or lanceolate, 8-14 x 4.5-6.6 cm, 
yellowish green to dark green above, pale green to whitish green beneath, coriaceous 
when fresh and dried, sparsely strigose hairy on both surfaces, base oblique, unequal, 
margin shallowly serrate, apex acute; midrib sunken above, prominent beneath, lateral 
veins 6-8 pairs on each side of the midrib, intercostal veins reticulate. Inflorescence 
axillary, branched cyme, with up to 6 flowers; peduncles, bracts and pedicels with 
pubescent hairs; peduncles reddish green or pale green, to 5 cm long, not adnate to 
petiole; bracts dark green above, pale green or whitish green beneath, 1.2-3.5 x 1.2-3 
cm, connate-perfoliate, margin serrate; pedicels green, to 1 cm long. Calyx pale green, 
clasping the tube, lobes narrowly triangular, 8-11 mm long, 7-11 mm wide, outer 
surface ciliate, inner surface glabrous. Corolla sparsely hairy outside with a cluster 
of hairs in the mouth of the tube above the anthers, hairs not bead-like, tube lilac, 
pale purple or white outside, throat whitish, 1.5-2.8 cm long, curved downwards; 
lobes faintly striped, dark purple, bluish purple, lilac or white, with 2 yellow patches 
on the lower lobes, upper lobe sometimes dark or violet blue, the lower lobes dark 
pink or dark purple, upper lobes elliptic, not spreading, 4-5 x 5-6 mm, lower lateral 
lobes elliptic, 5-6 x 4-5 mm, lower central lobe elliptic, 5-6 x 8-10 mm. Stamens : 
filaments slightly geniculate at the point of attachment, whitish with black-brown spots 
at the knees, inserted at 6-10 mm from the base of the corolla, 4-5.5 mm long; anthers 
cream with a purple mark, anther-thecae divergent, 2-3 mm long, with reflexed hairs 
to 2 mm long on the lower surface; staminodes 2, brown, inserted at 6 mm above the 
base of the corolla, less than 4 mm long, glabrous. Nectary pale green, a complete ring, 
up to 1.1 mm deep. Pistil light green; ovary 9-10 mm long, 0.5 mm wide at the base, 
narrowing to 0.2 mm below the stigma, hairs glandular; style to 4 mm long; stigma 
deeply 2-lobed, 2 mm long, very fine glandular hairy (abaxial), slightly papillose 
(adaxial); ovules cream, less than 1 mm long. Capsule green, to 8 cm long, slender, 
erect; calyx persistent, pale to dark green, hairy. Seeds yellowish cream, 324-385 x 
170-220 pm, ellipsoid, papillate or canaliculate. 
Distribution. Southern, western and northern Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia (Kedah, 
Perak and Perlis). 
Habitat and ecology. On limestone cliffs or rock faces. On Langkawi on limestone by 
the sea and, inland, at cave mouths or on rich damp or thinner soil layers at base of 
limestone cliffs. 
Provisional IUCN conservation status. Vulnerable VU Blab(iii) in Peninsular 
Malaysia. In Peninsular Malaysia Microchirita rupestris has a patchy distribution in 
Kedah (Gunung Baling and some parts of Langkawi), Perak (Waterloo Estate) and 
Perlis, but none lie within the network of Totally Protected Areas. It is vulnerable 
because it inhabits limestone cliffs and rock faces, cave mouths, rich damp soil at 
the base of limestone hills, or, in Langkawi, co mm only on limestone by the sea that 
is sensitive to disturbance. Although limestone is quarried on the main island of 
