Difference between revisions of "Willughbeia angustifolia (PROSEA)"

Latest revision as of 12:54, 23 February 2016

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Willughbeia angustifolia (Miq.) Markgr.

Protologue: Apocynaceae

Synonyms

Willughbeia apiculata Miq., W. elmeri Merr., W. rufescens Dyer ex Hook.f.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: jotan (Batak), jantahan, langgitan (West Kalimantan)
• Malaysia: gerit-gerit.

Distribution

Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia (Sumatra, Kalimantan, Buru), Brunei, Nicobar Islands.

Uses

From the latex a sticky rubber of inferior quality is prepared which has been used to adulterate (up to half/half) better quality rubber-latex or, more often, gutta-percha. The stems are also used for binding. The latex is used medicinally to cure serious ulcers. The fruits are said to be edible.

Observations

Woody climber, up to 60 m long, with glabrous branchlets, producing latex. Leaves opposite; petiole up to 2 cm long; blade elliptical, ovate or oblong, 3-14 cm × 1-4 cm, 2-4 times as long as wide, base rounded to cuneate, apex obtuse to acuminate. Inflorescence an axillary cyme (rarely a fascicle of 3), up to 2 cm long, with 5-19 flowers; flowers 5-merous, actinomorphic, bisexual, white to greenish; corolla tubular, tube inflated, up to 3 mm long, lobes up to 4.5 mm long. Fruit a fleshy, globose berry, 2-10 cm in diameter, pale green, yellow, orange or reddish, indehiscent. Seed compressed ovoid, about 2 cm × 1 cm, coma absent. W. angustifolia is rather variable in leaf shape, size and venation. Its small inflated corolla tube and short delicate inflorescence are rather distinctive.

Selected sources

20, 23, 27, 31, 34.