Commersonia bartramia (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Commersonia bartramia (L.) Merr.

Family: Sterculiaceae

Synonyms

Commersonia echinata J.R. Forst., C. platyphylla Andr.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: ki handeong (Sundanese), blencong (Javanese), andilo (Batak)
• Malaysia: durian tupai, mendarong gajah, rami hutan (Peninsular)
• Philippines: kakaag (Ilokano), anitap (Negrito), anilau-babae (Tagalog)
• Thailand: chong let, taa chai (Surat Thani), lang khao (peninsular).

Distribution

From southern China through Indo-China, Peninsular Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines to the Central Pacific.

Uses

In Indonesia and the Philippines the bast is made into general-purpose ropes. In Sumatra it is woven into mats. In the time of the Dutch East India Company fuses were spun from the bast. In New Britain (Papua New Guinea) the bast fibre is made into string for women's girdles, for headbands, and for tying. In Australia it was formerly used by indigenous people to make nets. The timber is not durable; it lasts up to 5 years under cover. C. bartramia is a good source of firewood. Because it spreads readily, grows fast and forms dense stands, it is useful for reforestation.

Observations

A densely stellate-pubescent small tree, up to 15 m tall; trunk 15-25 cm in diameter; twigs often flexuous. Leaves arranged spirally, simple; stipule palmatilobed, caducous; petiole 0.5-1.5 cm long; blade herbaceous, suborbicular-ovate-oblong, 6-30 cm × 2.5-25 cm, base cordate to subtruncate, often oblique, margin serrate-dentate or lobed, apex acutely acuminate, palmately veined, sparsely stellate-pubescent to nearly glabrous above. Inflorescence an axillary, leaf-opposed or terminal corymbose cyme; flowers bisexual, 5-merous; sepals connate, ovate, 3-3.5 mm long, white, often inrolled; petals white, with widened concave base (cap); receptacle flat; staminal tube short, not adnate to the petal, crowned by 5 subsessile or stalked stamens (opposite the petals) alternating with 5 petaline staminodes; staminodes triangular-lanceolate, at first coherent, concealing the ovary, afterwards apically recurved, acute, white; filaments distinct, anthers subglobose, accumbent against base of petals, 2-celled; ovary 5-celled, ovules 2-6 in each cell; styles 5, short. Fruit a globose, woody capsule, 2-2.5 cm in diameter (including stellate-hairy bristles), dehiscent loculicidally, 5-valved, with 1-2 seeds in each cell. Seed exalate. C. bartramia is found in grasslands, brushwood, thickets and secondary forest, up to 1250 m altitude. In Malaysia it is widespread and found in disturbed locations in the lowland. In Java C. bartramia flowers throughout the year. Propagation is by seed. In studies in Indo-China in the 1940s, the fibre of C. bartramia , separated by retting for 36 days, contained 55% cellulose, 15% pentosans, 19% lignin and 3% ash. In Philippine studies in the 1910s, dry and wet rope made from the bast of C. bartramia had a mean tensile strength of 392 kg per cm² and 266 kg per cm², respectively, and an elongation at break of 14% and 13%, respectively.

Selected sources

6, 19, 20, 21, 71, 93, 111, 115, 138, 160, 194.

Authors

M. Brink, P.C.M. Jansen & C.H. Bosch