Ardisia villosa (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Ardisia villosa Roxb.

Protologue: Fl. ind. 2: 274 (1824).

Vernacular names

• Malaysia: mata pelandok gajah, seluntas orang tinggi, kayu unggu bisa (Peninsular)
• Thailand: kamlang chang phueak (northern), phang krasa hin, phirang kasa (south-eastern)
• Vietnam: cơm nguội lông.

Distribution

Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, China, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Borneo and the Philippines.

Uses

In Peninsular Malaysia the roots are reputedly used against fever and cough, and a bath in water that has been boiled with the leaves is said to be a cure for dropsy.

Observations

A small shrub up to 1.5 m tall; leaves elliptical to elliptical-lanceolate or obovate-oblong, 4-20 cm × 1.5-7 cm, densely villous below (rarely glabrous), with numerous black glandular dots, secondary veins 10-15 pairs; inflorescence usually terminal on branches, umbellate; corolla 5-7 mm long, pink to violet, rarely white; fruit 5-10 mm in diameter. A. villosa occurs in evergreen forest and dry dipterocarp forest up to 1850 m altitude; it is common.

Selected sources

62, 121, 249, 378, 990.

Main genus page

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Authors

R.H.M.J. Lemmens