Ichnocarpus serpyllifolius (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Ichnocarpus serpyllifolius (Blume) P.I.Forst.

Protologue: Apocynaceae

Ficus serpyllifolia Blume, Micrechites tenuifolia Ridl., Trachelospermum philippinense Elmer.

• Malaysia: kayu naga, gerip tembaga
• Thailand: yan ta suea.

Thailand (peninsular), Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines.

Before the arrival of para rubber in South-East Asia a non-commercial rubber used to be prepared from the latex.

Woody climber containing white latex. Leaves opposite; petiole up to 1.5 cm long; blade orbicular, elliptical or obovate, 3-12 cm × 1-6 cm, 1-3 times as long as wide, base cuneate to rounded, apex usually short blunt acuminate. Inflorescence axillary and terminal cymes aggregated into a panicle up to 12 cm long; flowers 5-merous, cream; corolla tubular, tube up to 5 mm long, lobes up to 2 mm long. Fruit consisting of 2 spreading follicles, each about 2-7 cm × 0.5 cm. Seed flat, 1-3 cm × 1-2 mm, with grey-brown coma up to 5 cm long. I. serpyllifolius occurs in forests up to 1300 m altitude.

11, 32, 34.