Boehmeria macrophylla (PROSEA)
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Introduction |
Boehmeria macrophylla Hornem.
- Family: Urticaceae
Synonyms
Boehmeria platyphylla Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don, B. pilosiuscula (Blume) Hassk.
Vernacular names
- African jolanettle (En)
- Indonesia: celengan (Javanese), guntalian (Sundanese), nanasi utan (Manado)
- Thailand: chaa paan, paan (northern).
Distribution
From tropical Africa through Asia to Australia and the Pacific. In South-East Asia: Indo-China, Peninsular Malaysia, Indonesia (Java, Sulawesi), the Philippines.
Uses
In Indonesia and elsewhere (e.g. Pakistan) the bast is made into rope.
Observations
A monoecious shrub, up to 3 m tall. Leaves simple, opposite; stipules lanceolate, 6-8 mm long; petiole 2.5-5(-15) cm long; blade ovate, 15-30 cm × 7-15 cm, base broadly cuneate, margin serrate, apex acuminate to attenuate, 4-5 pairs of lateral veins. Inflorescence a pendulous spike in upper leaf axils, 30(-50) cm long; male flowers mainly at the base of the spike, subsessile, 1-2 mm long; female flowers sessile, 1-3 mm long. Fruit an ovoid, slightly compressed achene, 2-3 mm long. B. macrophylla is a highly variable species and a number of varieties have been distinguished. In the Philippines it is found in thickets and open locations at low and medium altitudes. To prepare rope from B. macrophylla in Indonesia, the outer bark is removed, the bast is taken from the wood, dried, and twisted into rope. In studies in Indo-China in the 1940s, the bark of B. macrophylla yielded about 13% fibre. Rough bark strips contained 15% moisture, 35% cellulose, 7% hemicelluloses, 12% lignin and 10% ash. After degumming the fibre contained 8% moisture, 61% cellulose, 5% hemicelluloses and 2% lignin.
Selected sources
6, 15, 21, 48, 55, 56, 59, 71, 102, 114, 124, 160, 197.
Authors
M. Brink, P.C.M. Jansen & C.H. Bosch
