Climbing Orange

Flowering year-round but mostly in spring and summer; fruiting in autumn and winter.

Toddalia asiatica is occurring in Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan of China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Africa, Madagascar.

Phylogeny and classification of Rutaceae subfamilies Rutoideae and Toddalioideae were inferred from plastid (trnL intron and trnL-F spacer) and nuclear (ITS-1 and ITS-2 rDNA) regions (Poon et al., 2007). Results support to merging these two subfamilies established by Engler based on different fruit types. Moreover, Phellodendron, Tetradium, Toddalia, and Zanthoxylum were resolved as a clade, supporting the proposal for a ‘proto-Rutaceae’ group.

Shrubs (usually sprawling) or woody climbers, usually armed. Petiole 1-4 cm; leaflet blades usually sessile or subsessile, elliptic or narrowly elliptic to obovate to oblanceolate, 3-10 cm long, 1-4 cm wide, base narrowly cuneate to attenuate, apex acuminate or rarely acute to obtuse or rounded. Inflorescences to 17 cm. Sepals 0.3-0.5 mm. Petals cream-white, ovate to elliptic, 1-3.5 mm. Stamens in male flowers 3-4 mm, in female flowers ligulate and 0.2-0.8 mm. Disk 0.2-0.5 mm. Gynoecium in female flowers ovoid to ellipsoid and 1.5-2.5 mm, in male flowers subcylindric and 1-2 mm. Fruit 5-10 mm in diameter. Seeds 5-6.5 mm.

The chromosomal number of Toddalia asiatica is 2n = 18 (Gunaseeli and Sampathkumar, 1985, 1990).

Growing in secondary forests, thickets; near sea level to 2000 m.