''Flagellaria indica'' is a climbing plant found in many of the tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World,

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Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

, and

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. A strong climber, it grows often up to tall, with thick cane-like stems exceeding in diameter. Its leaves, without hairs, are long, and wide. A coiled apex (

tendril In botany, a tendril is a specialized Plant stem, stem, leaf or Petiole (botany), petiole with a thread-like shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as ''Cuscuta''. There ar ...

) of the leaf forms the holding part of the climbing plant. Fragrant white flowers form in

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

s, long. The fruit is inedible. The globose

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...

s are red when mature, in diameter, usually with only one seed. Because of its wide distribution, many local common names are used, such as whip vine, hell tail, supplejack, false rattan, and bush cane. File:印度鞭藤 Flagellaria indica 20210527105931 01.jpg,

Inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

, irregularly branched. Stamens exserted. File:印度鞭藤 Flagellaria indica 20210527105931 04.jpg,

Drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...

s are green at first. File:印度鞭藤 Flagellaria indica 20210527105931 06.jpg,

Leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leav ...

sheaths with two auricles File:印度鞭藤 Flagellaria indica 20210527105931 08.jpg,

Tendril In botany, a tendril is a specialized Plant stem, stem, leaf or Petiole (botany), petiole with a thread-like shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as ''Cuscuta''. There ar ...

s: the holding part Image:Flagellaria indica Royal National Park.jpg, Southernmost limit of natural distribution

Royal National Park The Royal National Park is a state park, protected national park that is located in the Sutherland Shire local government area in Southern Sydney and in the City of Wollongong local government area in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Au ...

, Australia Image:Gardenology-IMG 4811 hunt10mar.jpg

References

* * Flora of Africa Flora of China Flora of Taiwan Flora of tropical Asia Flora of Australia Flora of the Pacific Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Poales {{Poales-stub