Willughbeia flavescens (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Willughbeia flavescens Dyer ex Hook.f.

Protologue: Apocynaceae

Synonyms

Urnularia flavescens (Hook.f.) Stapf, Willughbeia beccarii (Pierre) K.Schum., W. stapfii Merr.

Vernacular names

• Malaysia: getah gerip puteh, akar tengkang merah (Peninsular).

Distribution

Malaysia, Indonesia (Sumatra, Kalimantan), Brunei.

Uses

The latex turns into an inferior kind of rubber-like birdlime. Before the advent of para rubber it was of some commercial importance in Malaysia.

Observations

Woody liana, up to 30 m long, usually glabrous, containing latex. Leaves opposite; petiole up to 2 cm long; blade elliptical to oblong, 4-16 cm × 2-6 cm, about 2-3 times as long as wide, base rounded to cuneate, apex acuminate to subcaudate. Inflorescence an axillary cyme, up to 5 cm long, with 11-17 flowers; flowers 5-merous, yellow or reddish-yellow; corolla tubular, tube inflated, up to 3.5 mm long, lobes elliptical, up to 3 mm long. Fruit a globose berry, up to 5 cm in diameter. Seed compressed ovoid, about 2 mm long.

Selected sources

11, 20, 27, 31.