Claoxylon indicum (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Claoxylon indicum (Reinw. ex Blume) Hassk.

Family: Euphorbiaceae

Synonyms

• Claoxylon polot Merrill,
• Erytrochilus indicus Reinw. ex Blume.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: bleketupuk (Javanese), talingkup (Sundanese), katerbik (Madurese)

• Malaysia: sitampu, lampin budak, laping budak

• Cambodia: chhë: tô:ch

• Thailand: khang namphung (northern), ngun phung khao (northern), phakwan baiyai (south-east), kha ka ai (peninsular)

• Vietnam: lộc mại

Distribution

From India throughout continental South-East Asia and southern China, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Uses

Young leaves are used to prepare a spicy sauce or are eaten steamed, as a vegetable. In Indonesia the leaves are sometimes used to feed fish in ponds. Medicinally the leaves are used as a laxative, and are pounded together with pieces of bark and applied externally to the chest, against asthma. In China a decoction of the leaves is taken to treat various diseases. The tree cannot be used for firewood, as it produces a suffocating smoke.

Observations

• Shrub or small tree, up to 20 m tall, usually tomentellous throughout, often with a purplish tinge.
• Leaves alternate; petiole up to 16 cm long; blade ovate to elliptical, 9-27 cm × 5-20 cm, densely studded with fine pellucid dots, margin coarsely dentate.
• Male inflorescence an axillary, spiciform raceme, up to 40 cm long, with flowers in fascicles 6-13 together, calyx 3-4-partite, stamens 15-25; female inflorescence axillary, shorter and denser than the male one, up to 12 cm long, calyx 3-5-partite, styles 3-4.
• Fruit a 3-4-angular, depressed capsule with 6-8 longitudinal furrows, 5-6 mm × 7-8 mm, with soft, short, grey hairs and distinctly raised margins of sutures.
• Seed ovoid to subreniform.

C. indicum occurs in evergreen mixed forest, often in humid locations on humus-rich soils but also on sandy coasts, up to 850 m altitude. The tree is easily propagated from cuttings.

Selected sources

• Airy Shaw, H.K., 1972. The Euphorbiaceae of Siam. Kew Bulletin 26: 191-363.

• Airy Shaw, H.K., 1981. The Euphorbiaceae of Sumatra. Kew Bulletin 36: 239-374.

• 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.

• Heyne, K., 1927. De nuttige planten van Nederlandsch Indië [The useful plants of the Dutch East Indies]. 2nd edition, 3 volumes. Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel in Nederlandsch Indië. 1953 pp. (3rd edition, 1950. van Hoeve, 's‑Gravenhage/Bandung, the Netherlands/Indonesia. 1660 pp.).

• Hooker, J.D., 1872-1897. Flora of British India. 7 volumes. Reeve, London, United Kingdom.

• Ochse, J.J. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1980. Vegetables of the Dutch East Indies. 3rd English edition (translation of "Indische groenten”, 1931). Asher & Co., Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 1016 pp.

• .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.

Authors

P.C.M. Jansen