Barringtonia scortechinii (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Barringtonia scortechinii King

Family: Lecythidaceae

• Scortechini's putat (En)
• Malaysia: putat gajah, putat tuba, putat hutan (Peninsular)
• Borneo: tempalang, langsat burung

Peninsular Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, eastern Sumatra and Borneo.

The fruit can be used as a flavouring in food. Pounded seeds or bark are used as a fish poison in Malaysia (they contain saponins). The wood is used as timber (putat).

• Spreading tree, usually 7-20 m tall, occasionally up to 40 m; bole 3-40 cm in diameter, up to 20 m tall, sometimes with buttresses 2 m × 1 m × 5 cm; bark scaly, finely longitudinally fissured, brown or red, peeling off in small flakes.
• Leaves subcoriaceous, glabrous, glossy bright green; petiole up to 5 cm long; blade obovate to elliptical, 8-21 cm × 5-8 cm.
• Inflorescence a pendulous spike, up to 70 cm long and with up to 65 flowers.
• Calyx tubular with 3-4 lobes; petals 4, elliptical, 1.5 cm × 1 cm, greenish-white to pink-red; stamens in 4-5 whorls, numerous, at base united in a staminal tube, inner whorl staminodial.
• Fruit an ovoid, 1-seeded berry, 10-12 cm × 3-5 cm with 8 ridges, green with a reddish tinge; immature fruits tetragonous with distinct wings on the edges which gradually disappear.
• Seed ovoid, 5-6 cm × 2 cm, yellow-white.

B. scortechinii occurs in primary and secondary forest in Borneo in low undulating country up to 1400 m altitude, in Peninsular Malaysia in swampy forest and near rivers in hillside forest. Flowering and fruiting year-round.

• Burkill, I.H., 1935. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2 volumes. Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, United Kingdom. 2402 pp. (slightly revised reprint, 1966. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.).

• Corner, E.J.H., 1988. Wayside trees of Malaya. 3rd edition. 2 volumes. The Malayan Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 774 pp.

• Payens, J.D.P.W., 1967. A monograph of the genus Barringtonia (Lecythidaceae). Blumea 15: 157-263.

• Whitmore, T.C. & Ng, F.S.P. (Editors), 1972-1989. Tree flora of Malaya. A manual for foresters. 2nd edition. 4 volumes. Malayan Forest Records No 26. Longman Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

P.C.M. Jansen