Balanophora abbreviata Bl.

Plant monoecious, creamy white to grayish. Rhizome branched or unbranched, surface granular, with pale stellate lenticels; branches subcupular to subglobose, attenuate toward base. Scapes erect, 4-6 cm. Leaves 4 to 7, alternate, oblong to ovate, 1.2-1.5 × 0.9-1.2 cm, lustrous, base asymmetric, apex obtuse to emarginate. Inflorescences ca. 1-2 × 0.6-1 cm, globose to ellipsoid, apex obtuse to rounded. Male flowers: zygomorphic, 10-30 basally on inflorescences or occasionally apically (in Hainan material), subtended by indistinct rudimentary bracts. Perianth lobes 4 or 5, imbricate, rounded, ca. 2 × 2 mm. Synandria subdiscoid, laterally expanded; anthers with 16-20 parallel loculi, dehiscent by short slits. Spadicles clavate, apical 1/3 subglobose; cuticular ridges of apical cells labyrinthlike. Female flowers: mostly on basal stipe of spadicles. Fl. Nov-Dec.

Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand; Africa, Madagascar, Pacific Islands].

Dense forests; 600-1500 m.

Balanophora cavaleriei H. Léveillé; B. kainantensis Masamune.