Breynia racemosa (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Breynia racemosa (Blume) Müll. Arg.

Protologue: in DC., Prod. 15, 2: 441 (1866).

Synonyms

• Breynia rhamnoides (Blume) Müll. Arg. var. hypoleuca (Müll. Arg.) Müll. Arg. (1866),
• Breynia acuminata (Müll. Arg.) Müll. Arg. (1866),
• Breynia reclinata (Roxb.) Hook.f. (1887).

Vernacular names

• Papua New Guinea: musmus (Taskul, New Hanover)
• Philippines: matang-ulang (Tagalog), karmai (Iloko)
• Thailand: kangpla.

Distribution

Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Sumbawa, Timor, Borneo, the Philippines and New Guinea.

Uses

In Peninsular Malaysia the leaves are used extensively for poulticing. The sap of crushed leaves and roots is added to water and used as a mouthwash for children. In Papua New Guinea, a cooled decoction of the leaves is used as a skin wash to treat rashes and skin eruptions. Leaves are sometimes added to drinking water of cage birds as a sort of tonic.

Observations

• A scandent shrub or tree up to 9 m tall, glabrous.
• Leaves ovate, 1.9-2.9 cm × 1.2-1.7 cm, length width ratio 1.6-1.7, base rounded, apex obtuse, mucronulate, margin recurved, coriaceous, petiole 1.5-2 mm long, stipules about 1.3 mm long.
• Staminate flowers unknown; pistillate flowers 1.7-3.5 mm in diameter, pedicel 0.5-1.8 mm long, calyx 1-1.8 mm long, lobes 0.7-1 mm wide, ovary obconical, about 1.3 mm in diameter, apically lobed, stigmas about 0.2 mm long, not united, not split, pointing towards each other.
• Fruit flattened globose, about 5 mm × 5.8 mm, sometimes a bit spiny, with narrow apical crown, red.
• Seed about 4 mm × 2.3 mm × 2.3 mm, orange.

The New Guinea plants (var. aromatica Airy Shaw) usually have larger leaves. B. racemosa is found in scrub, forest edges and along paths near beach forest, from sea-level up to 2500 m altitude.

Selected sources

• [31] Airy Shaw, H.K., 1972. The Euphorbiaceae of Siam. Kew Bulletin 26: 191—363.
• [32] Airy Shaw, H.K., 1975. The Euphorbiaceae of Borneo. Kew Bulletin Additional Series IV. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, United Kingdom. 245 pp.
• [33] Airy Shaw, H.K., 1980. The Euphorbiaceae of New Guinea. Kew Bulletin Additional Series VIII. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, United Kingdom. 243 pp.
• [36] Airy Shaw, H.K., 1983. An alphabetical enumeration of the Euphorbiaceae of the Philippines Islands. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. 56 pp.
• [135] Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A—H) pp. 1—1240, Vol. 2 (I—Z) pp. 1241—2444.
• [671] Merrill, E.D., 1923—1926. An enumeration of Philippine flowering plants. 4 volumes. Bureau of Printing, Manila, the Philippines.

Main genus page

• Breynia

Authors

• P.C. van Welzen