Chisocheton macrophyllus (PROSEA)
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Introduction |
- Family: Meliaceae
Vernacular names
- Indonesia: gendis, gula (Javanese)
- Malaysia: bekak, pasak lingga (Peninsular)
- Thailand: ma aa, sai, ta suea (Peninsular).
Distribution
The Nicobar Islands, peninsular Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, Anambas Islands, Java, Borneo.
Uses
The seed contains an oil that has been used for illumination. Because the leaves contain triterpenoids which show antiviral activity, they might have some medicinal importance. The wood is of little use as timber because it is not durable and it splits easily.
Observations
- Tree up to 35 m tall, trunk up to 2 m in diameter with buttresses up to 3 m × 2 m, crown irregular, sparsely-branched, bark exuding white latex when wounded.
- Leaves in dense terminal spirals, up to 3 m long, pseudogemmulate with up to 28 pairs of leaflets; petiole 10-15 cm, petiolules about 1 cm long; leaflets oblong, up to 39 cm × 11 cm, with 18-25 spreading veins on each side of midrib.
- Inflorescence a panicle-like thyrse, up to 80 cm long, branches rather distant and up to 12 cm long, ultimate branchlets cymulose and many-flowered; calyx cupular, 3-4 mm long; petals 4 or 5, linear-spatulate, up to 15 mm long, pale yellow; staminal tube swollen at mouth, bearing 5-9 anthers each 2.5 mm long; pistil sericeous with 4-locular ovary, style head cylindrical with apical lobes.
- Fruit a capsule, pear-shaped, up to 15 cm in diameter, 4-valved, orange-brown, with tough latex-producing pericarp, 2-4-seeded.
- Seed like a segment of an orange, 4.5 cm long, covered with mealy sarcotesta.
C. macrophyllus occurs in light, lowland rain forest, up to 1100 m altitude. In Java it flowers between June and September. The oil is obtained from the seed by expression. Seed and other plant parts taste bitter. Seeds with sarcotesta showed only 30% germination 2-6 months after sowing.
Selected sources
8, 19, 42, 56, 58, 59, 135. oils
