Heptapleurum calyptratum, commonly known as mallet flower, is a species of plant in the family Araliaceae. It ranges from eastern India and Bangladesh through Tibet and Indochina (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam) to southern China (Xizang, Yunnan), growing at altitudes of 900âÂÂ1700 m.
Heptapleurum calyptratum is a scrambling shrub or tree growing 4-10 m tall, erect at first, the stems eventually climbing up to 30 m long, with glabrous foliage. The leaves are palmate, with a petiole 15âÂÂ60 cm long, and 7-11 elliptical leaflets 12âÂÂ23 cm long and 4-8.5 cm wide. The flowers are green, 1.5âÂÂ3 cm diameter, produced in paniculate umbels in September, with the globose fruit 2âÂÂ3.5 cm diameter, ripening in February. Its gynoecium consists of a whorl of up to two hundred "stigmatic lobes" (carpels).
Formerly (in 1998, as Schefflera pueckleri) it was listed by IUCN as a Conservation-dependent species threatened by habitat loss, but is now considered of least concern following a 2023 reevaluation.