Urceola lucida (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Urceola lucida (Wall. ex G.Don) Benth. ex Kurz

Protologue: Apocynaceae

Synonyms

Urceola esculenta (A.DC.) Benth. ex Kurz, U. reticulata King & Gamble.

Vernacular names

• Malaysia: akar gegerit puteh (Peninsular)
• Thailand: tang tiu (northern), thian ruesee (central), thee ngoh (peninsular).

Distribution

Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Malaysia (Peninsular), Singapore, Indonesia (Sumatra).

Uses

The latex produces a good kind of rubber but the flow of latex is scanty.

Observations

Liana with subglabrous branchlets, containing latex. Leaves opposite; petiole up to 3 cm long; blade obovate to elliptical, up to 26 cm × 11 cm, about 1-2 times as long as wide, base weakly cordate to obtuse, apex acuminate to caudate. Inflorescence an axillary or terminal cymose panicle up to 30 cm long; flowers 5-merous, white; corolla urceolate to campanulate, tube up to 1.5 mm long, lobes valvate in bud, about 1 mm long. Fruit a pair of follicles, follicle dagger-shaped, tapering, up to 11 cm × 2 cm. Seed flattened ellipsoidal, about 15 mm × 4 mm, coma 3-5 cm long. U. lucida grows in evergreen or deciduous, primary or secondary forest up to 1000 m altitude.

Selected sources

11, 27, 33, 42.