Microchirita in Peninsular Malaysia 
13 
Fig. 5. Distribution of Microchirita caliginosa (C.B.Clarke) Yin Z.Wang in Sarawak. 
Chirita fusca C.B.Clarke in A.DC. & C.DC., Monogr. Phan. 5(1): 129 (1883). - 
Roettlerafusca (C.B.Clarke) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. PI. 2: 476 (1891). -TYPE. Malaysia, 
Sarawak, June 1896, Lobb (holotype K [000858415]). 
Branching, monopodial, herbaceous, short-lived plant. Stems brown to pale red or pale 
maroon, succulent, erect, flowering at 1 cm tall, erect up to 60 cm, 2-7 mm diameter, 
shortly decumbent at the base, hairs pubescent or strigose, rarely glabrous, internodes 
to 10 cm long. Leaves opposite, decussate, lowermost solitary (resulting from one of 
a pair dying); petioles green sometimes maroon, 2-6 cm long, hairs glandular and 
eglandular; lamina narrowly elliptic or elliptic, 6-15.5 x 2.5-7 cm, yellowish green 
to dark green above, pale green or greyish green or sometimes reddish beneath, soft 
when fresh, papery when dry, densely pubescent, base narrowly cuneate, unequal, 
margin serrulate, apex acuminate; midrib sunken above, prominent beneath, pubescent 
beneath, lateral veins 5-10 pairs on each side of the midrib, intercostal veins reticulate. 
Inflorescences epiphyllous, to 6-flowered; bracts absent; pedicels pale green. 
