Alstonia spatulata (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Alstonia spatulata Blume

Protologue: Bijdr. fl. Ned. Ind. 1037 (1826).

• Alstonia cuneata Wallich ex G. Don (1837),
• Alstonia cochinchinensis Pierre ex Pitard (1933).

• Hard milkwood, siamese balsa (En)
• Indonesia: lame bodas (general), pulai gabus (Sumatra), gabusan (Sundanese), lame (Kalimantan)
• Malaysia: pulai paya (general), pulai basong (Peninsular), pulai lilin (Sabah)
• Thailand: thia, sia, tinpet phru (peninsular).
• Vietnam: sữa lá bàng, mớp, mò cua nước

Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, Bangka, Java, Borneo and New Guinea.

The wood is used as pulai and is suitable for tea chests, crates, carving, plywood and carpentry. The wood of the roots is used for pith helmets, rafts, rafters for fishery and as a replacement for cork.

In Indonesia, an aqueous extract of the bark is used throughout West Sumatra as a natural remedy for diabetes mellitus. In Sarawak, the latex is applied to sores and skin diseases. The bark contains alkaloids. An extract of the pounded bark is an ingredient of febrifuges and vermifuges.

• A small to medium-sized tree up to 25(-30) m tall, bole at first cylindrical, becoming fluted and shortly buttressed at the base, up to 40(-75) cm in diameter, outer bark grey, smooth, coming off in small papery flakes, inner bark pale yellow, with copious latex.
• Leaves in whorls of 3-4(-5), spathulate or obovate, 3-12 cm × 1.8-4.8 cm, apex rounded, with 20-35(-40) pairs of secondary veins, petiole 4-10(-15) mm long.
• Inflorescence few-flowered, pedicel 4-9 mm long, calyx glabrous, corolla glabrous outside.
• Follicles glabrous.

A. spatulata occurs scattered on poorly drained, frequently flooded, clay-rich alluvium and on gley soils on undulating land, particularly near streams, usually below 300 m altitude. It is often abundant in secondary or shrub vegetation.

• [35]Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1963–1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen.
• [359]Keating, W.G. & Bolza, E., 1982. Characteristics, properties and uses of timbers. Vol. 1. South-East Asia, Northern Australia and the Pacific. Inkata Press Proprietary Ltd., Melbourne, Sydney & London. 362 pp.
• [373]Koorders, S.H. & Valeton, T., 1913–1918. Atlas der Baumarten von Java *[Atlas of tree species of Java]. 4 volumes. Fa. P.W.M. Trap, Leiden.
• [455]Markgraf, F., 1974. Florae Malesianae praecursores LIV. Apocynaceae part III. 9. Alstonia. Blumea 22: 20–29.
• [672] Middleton, D.J., 1999. Apocynaceae. In: Santisuk, T. & Larsen, K. (Editors). Flora of Thailand. Vol. 7(1). The Forest Herbarium, Royal Forest Department, Bangkok, Thailand. pp. 1—153.
• [496]Monachino, J., 1949. A revision of the genus Alstonia (Apocynaceae). Pacific Science 3: 133–182.
• [786] Perry, L.M., 1980. Medicinal plants of East and Southeast Asia. Attributed properties and uses. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States & London, United Kingdom. 620 pp.
• [947] Soedigdo, S., Manjang, J., Cholies, N. & Soedigdo, P., 1980. Studies on the chemistry and pharmacology of some Indonesian medicinal plants. In: 4th Asian Symposium on Medicinal Plants and Spices: Abstracts. Asian Symposium on Medicinal Plants and Spices, Bangkok (Thailand), 15—19 Sep 1980. Mahidol University, Faculty of Science, Department of Chemistry, Bangkok, Thailand. p. 112.
• [950] Soerianegara, I. & Lemmens, R.H.M.J. (Editors), 1993. Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 5(1). Timber trees: Major commercial timbers. Pudoc Scientific Publishers, Wageningen, the Netherlands. 610 pp.
• [671]Suttie, W.R., 1969. Manual of the forest trees of Papua and New Guinea, part 9 – Apocynaceae. Department of Forests, Port Moresby. 52 pp.

• Alstonia (Medicinal plants)
• Alstonia (Timbers)

• Rudjiman
• Stephen P. Teo