Cerbera odollam (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Cerbera odollam Gaertn.

Protologue: Fruct. sem. pl. 2: 193 (1791).

Synonyms

• Cerbera lactaria Buch.-Ham. ex Spreng. (1825),
• Cerbera manghas auct. non L.

Vernacular names

• Malaysia: bintan (Peninsular)
• Thailand: sang la (peninsular), teenpet nam, teenpet thale (central)
• Vietnam: hải guả tủ vàng, muróp sat vàng, muróp xác vàng.

Distribution

From Sri Lanka and India towards Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China and Thailand; in Malesia recorded in Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, western Sulawesi, Borneo and the Philippines (Luzon); in the Pacific recorded in the Mariana Islands and Guam.

Uses

In Brunei, a leaf decoction is added to an aromatic bath after childbirth. In India and Thailand, the bark, leaves and latex are considered emetic and purgative. The seed, and in particular the seed oil, is toxic and strongly purgative.

Observations

• A shrub or tree up to 15 m tall; bole up to 20 cm in diameter.
• Leaves obovate, 9-26 cm × 2-5.5 cm, length-width ratio 2.5-5, base cuneate, apex acuminate or apiculate, with 15-25 pairs of secondary veins.
• Inflorescence few- to many-flowered, up to 35 cm long, usually only one flower open at a time.
• Sepals very variable in shape and size, length-width ratio 2-6, corolla tube bulging in the middle, 15-25 mm long, lobes 12-38 mm long, usually white, sometimes yellow or orange in the mouth, stamens inserted around the middle of the corolla tube.
• Fruit consisting of 2 mericarps, subglobose to broadly ellipsoid, 8-11 cm × ó 7.5-11 cm × 6.5-10 cm, pale yellow-green or red.

Selected sources

• [201] Chuakul, W., Saralamp, P., Paonil, W., Temsiririrkkul, R. & Clayton, T. (Editors), 1997. Medicinal plants in Thailand. Vol. II. Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. 248 pp.
• [215] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1948—1976. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials & industrial products. 11 volumes. Publications and Information Directorate, New Delhi, India.
• [407] Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
• [672] Middleton, D.J., 1999. Apocynaceae. In: Santisuk, T. & Larsen, K. (Editors). Flora of Thailand. Vol. 7(1). The Forest Herbarium, Royal Forest Department, Bangkok, Thailand. pp. 1—153.
• [786] Perry, L.M., 1980. Medicinal plants of East and Southeast Asia. Attributed properties and uses. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States & London, United Kingdom. 620 pp.
• [810] Quisumbing, E., 1978. Medicinal plants of the Philippines. Katha Publishing Co., Quezon City, the Philippines. 1262 pp.
• [1008] Tomlinson, P.B., 1986. The botany of mangroves. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, New York, United States & Melbourne Australia. 413 pp.

Main genus page

• Cerbera (Medicinal plants)
• Cerbera (Timbers)

Authors

• Tran Cong Khanh
• Tran Dinh Ly