Ardisia lurida (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Ardisia lurida Blume

Family: Myrsinaceae

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: matah ketam gajah (Sumatra), ki langit hejo, lampeni badak (Sundanese).

Distribution

Indonesia (Java, Sumatra), Peninsular Malaysia.

Uses

The black fruits are edible and said to be delicate in flavour.

Observations

• Shrub or small tree, up to 7 m tall.
• Leaves lanceolate, 13-30 cm × 4-8 cm, conspicuously glandular dotted.
• Fruit a globose drupe, 1 cm in diameter, violet-red to black.

In forests and brushwoods, up to 1000 m altitude.

Selected sources

• Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1963 1968. Flora of Java. 3 Volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands.

• Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2nd ed. 2 Volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.

• Heyne, K., 1927. De nuttige planten van Nederlandsch Indië [The useful plants of the Dutch East Indies]. 2nd ed. 3 Volumes. Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel in Nederlandsch Indië. 1953 pp.

• Koorders, S.H. & Valeton, Th., 1894 1914. Bijdrage tot de kennis der boomsoorten van Java [Contribution to the knowledge of tree species of Java]. 13 Volumes. G. Kolff & Co., Batavia.

Authors

P.C.M. Jansen, J. Jukema, L.P.A. Oyen, T.G. van Lingen