Rauvolfia sumatrana (PROSEA)
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Introduction |
Rauvolfia sumatrana Jack
- Protologue: Mal. Misc. 1(5): 22 (1820).
Synonyms
- Cyrtosiphonia madurensis Teijsm. & Binnend. (1823),
- Cyrtosiphona sumatrana (Jack) Miq. (1856),
- Rauvolfia madurensis (Teijsm. & Binnend.) Boerl. (1899).
Vernacular names
- Indonesia: lame lalaki (Sundanese), polay lakek (Madurese), tampa badak (Sumatra)
- Malaysia: pulai pipit, pelir kambing (Peninsular)
- Thailand: teenpet lek (Surat Thani), ra yom teenpet (Bangkok).
Distribution
The Andaman Islands, Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands, Borneo, Sulawesi, the Moluccas, the Aru Islands and the Philippines.
Uses
The bark is used to treat dysentery. In the Philippines, the dried bark is reported as an antimalarial. The lightweight wood is sometimes used for planks and small objects such as knife handles.
Observations
A small to medium-sized tree up to 20 m tall; leaves 3-5-verticillate, elliptical-obovate to elliptical, 7-26 cm × 3-5 cm, petiole thin, up to 3 cm long; flowers with campanulate-infundibuliform corolla tube 2-3 times the length of the calyx; fruit subglobose with a broad obtuse base. R. sumatrana is closely related to R. javanica and R. reflexa . It occurs in lowland dipterocarp forest and teak forest, sometimes also in forest edges and secondary vegetation, up to 1400 m altitude.
Selected sources
- [97] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1963) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
- [118] Banerjee, N. & Sharma, A.K., 1983. Cytotaxonomy, tissue culture and alkaloids of Rauwolfia L. Nucleus 26(3): 197-207.
- [202] Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A-H) pp. 1-1240. Vol. 2 (I-Z) pp. 1241-2444.
- [580] Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
- [905] Markgraf, F., 1984. Florae Malesianae Praecursores LXIV. Apocynaceae VI. Rauvolfia. Blumea 30: 157-167.
- [1564] Whitmore, T.C. & Ng, F.S.P. (Editors), 1972-1989. Tree flora of Malaya. A manual for foresters. 2nd Edition. 4 volumes. Malayan Forest Records No 26. Longman Malaysia Sdn. Berhad, Kuala Lumpur & Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.
Main genus page
- Rauvolfia (Medicinal plants)
Authors
- Tran Dinh Ly & Pham Duy Mai
