Baccaurea parviflora (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Baccaurea parviflora (Muell. Arg.) Muell. Arg.

Family: Euphorbiaceae

Synonyms

• Baccaurea scortechinii Hook.f.
• Baccaurea rostrata Merr.,
• Baccaurea singaporica Pax & K. Hoffm.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia, Malaysia: setambun (general)
• Burma: kanaso
• Malaysia: asam tambun, setambun (Peninsular)
• Thailand: mafai-ka (peninsular), somfai-pa (Nakhon Si Thammarat), mafai-tao (Satun).

Distribution

Peninsular Burma, Thailand and Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo and Sumatra.

Uses

Fruits are edible, acidic, best when cooked. The wood is hard and durable, used for small utensils.

Observations

• Small tree, up to 6 m tall.
• Leaves elliptic, up to 20 cm × 9 cm.
• Inflorescences on the trunk, females at lowest part.
• Fruit a fusiform berry-like capsule, up to 2.5 cm × 1 cm, angled, sometimes narrowly winged, purplish-black, on strings lying on the ground.

In lowland forest, up to 450 m altitude, flowering after dry weather.

Selected sources

• Airy Shaw, H.K., 1972. The Euphorbiaceae of Siam. Kew Bulletin 26: 191-363.

• Airy Shaw, H.K., 1981. The Euphorbiaceae of Sumatra. Kew Bulletin 36: 239-374.

• 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.

• Corner, E.J.H., 1965. Check-list of Ficus in Asia and Australasia with keys to identification. The Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 21: 1-186.

• 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.

Authors

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