Elaeocarpus angustifolius (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Elaeocarpus angustifolius Blume

Protologue: Bijdr. fl. Ned. Ind. 3: 120 (1825).

Synonyms

• Elaeocarpus ganitrus Roxb.(1832),
• Elaeocarpus sphaericus (Gaertner) K. Schum. (1890),
• Elaeocarpus novoguineensis Warb. (1905).

Vernacular names

• Bead tree, genitri, Indian oil-fruit (En)
• Indonesia: jenitri, genitri (Java), ganitri (Bali), sima (Makassar)
• Malaysia: changkan, geniteri, rijaksa (Peninsular)
• Papua New Guinea: qozari (Bolinbaneng, Morobe Province) Thailand: mamun dong (north-eastern), mun dong, mun khom (northern)
• Thailand: mamun dong (north-eastern), mun dong, mun khom (northern).
• Vietnam: côm lá hẹp

Distribution

From India and Nepal through Indo-China to Malesia, Australia and eastward to Fiji; sometimes cultivated.

Uses

In Papua New Guinea leaf sap is used to cure stomach-ache or pain in the chest and shoulders. In the Philippines, there is one record of the bark being applied to treat an enlarged spleen. The stones have been a locally important trade commodity, in particular when the size was manipulated to obtain small beads called "rudraksha". At present they are still important for the production of traditional Hindu bead chains.

Observations

• A large tree up to 40 m tall, usually with thin buttresses extending up to 6 m from the base, crown often partly deciduous.
• Leaves alternate or grouped at the end of pubescent twigs, elliptical to obovate, 12-17 cm × 4-6 cm, base tapering, apex acute, margin finely serrulate, petiole 5-15(-20) mm long, stipules early caducous.
• Raceme borne on the twigs behind the leaves, spreading, 6-9 cm long, 12-26-flowered, pedicel 9-15 mm long; sepals 8-11 mm × 1-2 mm, pale green or tinged red, petals oblong-obovate, 12-15 mm × 3-4 mm, divided at the tip into 4-5 lobes, the lobes subdivided into 3-7 narrow tapering divisions, 15-25 in total, yellowish or greenish white, stamens about 35, filaments 1-2 mm long, anthers 4-6 mm long, ovary hairy, 5(-7)-celled, usually 4 ovules per cell.
• Drupe globose, (12-)20 mm × 30 mm, bright blue or purplish, stone hard and dense, surface rugose to sculptured, (1-)2-5(-7)-seeded.

E. angustifolius is commonly encountered in secondary forest, persisting in mature regrowth, from sea-level up to 1400 m altitude.

Selected sources

• [74] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1964—1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1964) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
• [135] 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.
• [158] Chand, L., Dasgupta, S., Chattopadhyay, S.K. & Ray, A.B., 1977. Chemical investigation of some Elaeocarpus species. Planta Medica 32(2): 197—199.
• [204] Coode, M.J.E., 1981. Elaeocarpaceae. In: Henty, E.E. (Editor): Handbooks of the flora of Papua New Guinea. Vol. 2. Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Australia. pp. 38—185.
• [407] 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.
• [932] Singh, R.K., Bhattacharya, S.K. & Acharya, S.B., 2000. Studies on extracts of Elaeocarpus sphaericus fruits on in vitro rat mast cells. Phytomedicine Jena 7(3): 205—207.
• [971] Sunder, S., Rai, P.K., Thakur, P., Gupta, S.P. & Pandey, V.B., 1998. E. ganitrus (Rudraksha) in treatment of essential hypertension. Indian Journal of Physiology and Allied Sciences 52(4): 171—175.
• [1066] 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

• Elaeocarpus (Medicinal plants)
• Elaeocarpus (Timbers)

Authors

• S. Aggarwal