Crateva magna (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Crateva magna (Lour.) DC.

Protologue: Prodr. 1: 243 (1824).

Synonyms

• Crateva religiosa Blume (1825),
• Crateva nurvala Buch.-Ham. (1827).

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: sibaluak (Sumatra), jaranan (Javanese), pingos (Kalimantan)
• Malaysia: bulan ayer, dala
• Burma (Myanmar): kadat
• Thailand: kum nam (general), ro-tha (northern), hoh-thoh (south-western)
• Vietnam: bún, co cụm.

Distribution

India, Burma (Myanmar), southern China, Hainan, Indo-China, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan. Cultivated throughout the area, for ornamental or magical purposes.

Uses

The juice from the bitter stem or root bark is used in decoction for stimulating the appetite or as a digestive, as a laxative against colic and as a febrifuge in India, Thailand and Malesia. In India, the root bark is used to treat urolithiasis. The fresh leaves are rubefacient, and applied as a tonic and skin irritant against high fever. It is planted as an ornamental, and also used locally for timber.

Observations

• A tree, 8-15(-20) m tall, branchlets slightly zigzag, yellowish-brown.
• Petiole 4-12 cm long, on top bearing numerous gland-like appendages, up to 1 mm long, pale brown, stipules minute, late caducous, leaflets lanceolate, sometimes oblong, (4.5-)9-15(-28) cm × 2-6.5 cm, central leaflet broadest about or below the middle, lateral ones more or less symmetrical, base acute, apex acuminate, firmly herbaceous, veins 10-22 pairs, petiolule 0-10 mm long.
• Inflorescence 10-16 cm long with 20-100 flowers, bracts early caducous, 5-9 mm long.
• Pedicel 4-7 cm long, sepals ovate, 2-3.5 mm × 1.5 mm, apex acute, petals rhomboid to elliptical, (8-)15-30 mm × (5-)15-22 mm, narrowed base 5-12 mm long, stamens 10-25, 3.5-4.5 cm long, filaments purple, anthers 3 mm long, gynophore 3.5-5.5 cm long.
• Berry ellipsoid, 5-5.5 cm × 4-4.5 cm, yellowish-grey.
• Seed with a crest of sharp, irregular protrusions.

C. magna is rather rare, and occurs mostly along streams in shady locations, sometimes near the seashore, up to 600 m altitude.

Selected sources

• [74] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1964—1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1964) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 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.
• [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.
• [914] Siemonsma, J.S. & Kasem Piluek (Editors), 1993. Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 8. Vegetables. Pudoc Scientific Publishers, Wageningen, the Netherlands. 412 pp.

Main genus page

• Crateva

Authors

• G.H. Schmelzer