Urceola elastica (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Urceola elastica Roxb.

Protologue: Apocynaceae

Synonyms

Tabernaemontana elastica (Roxb.) Spreng., Urceola brachysepala Hook.f. var. pilosa Boerl.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: akar gerip tembaga (Malay), tahoi tabu (Sumatra, Lampung)
• Malaysia: akar gegerit jantan (Peninsular).

Distribution

Malaysia, Indonesia (Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan), Brunei.

Uses

Before the introduction of the para rubber tree this liana was the oldest known rubber producer from Asia. It produced a good quality rubber and would certainly have been cultivated on a large scale had not all latex producing plants been overshadowed by Hevea brasiliensis (Willd. ex Juss.) Müll.Arg.

Observations

Robust liana, up to 180 m long and 50 cm stem diameter at base, with densely brown puberulent branchlets, containg latex. Leaves opposite; petiole up to 3 cm long; blade elliptical to obovate, 3-20 cm × 1.5-9 cm, about 2 times as long as wide, base weakly cordate to obtuse, margins often slightly inrolled, apex acuminate, puberulent beneath. Inflorescence an axillary or terminal cymose panicle up to 20 cm long; flowers 5-merous; corolla tubular, greenish-white, lobes valvate in bud, urceolate when open, tube 1-2 mm long, lobes about 1 mm × 0.5 mm. Fruit a pair of divergent follicles, follicle linear to fusiform, up to 26 cm × 1.5 cm. Seed flattened ellipsoidal, up to 20 mm × 4 mm bearing a coma up to 6 cm long. U. elastica occurs in primary, secondary or disturbed forest, up to 800 m altitude.

Selected sources

11, 23, 27, 33, 42.