Croton griffithii (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Croton griffithii Hook.f.

Protologue: Fl. Brit. India 5: 392 (1887).

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: tumpung (Malay)
• Malaysia: tapin batu, melokan ayer, kemesak (Peninsular).

Distribution

Lower Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo.

Uses

A decoction of the leaves is used in Malaysia as a post-partum bath for three days after childbirth. The finely scraped root is sprinkled on ulcers. The wood is probably suitable for house construction.

Observations

• A small tree up to 12 m tall.
• Leaves elliptical to obovate, 10-27 cm × 5-12 cm, drying clear orange-brown, dark brown or grey-brown, base obtuse to attenuate, apex obtuse to mucronate, margin entire to obscurely serrate, lower surface subglabrous or weakly hairy near midrib.
• Inflorescence glabrous to sparsely lepidote.
• Flowers solitary, sepals apically bearded; staminate flowers, stamens 8-15; pistillate flowers with 5 large disk glands, ovary depressed 3-lobed, stellately tomentose and white with scales.
• Fruit a depressed 3-lobed capsule, about 1 cm in diameter, sparsely lepidote, smooth.

C. griffithii is found in primary submontane forest on brown sandy soil, limestone or heavy loam over limestone, up to 1050 m altitude.

Selected sources

• [32] Airy Shaw, H.K., 1975. The Euphorbiaceae of Borneo. Kew Bulletin Additional Series IV. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, United Kingdom. 245 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.
• [358] Govaerts, R., Frodin, D.G. & Radcliffe-Smith, A., 2000. World checklist and bibliography of Euphorbiaceae (with Pandaceae). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. 4 volumes. 1621 pp.
• [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.
• [814] Radcliffe-Smith, A., 2001. Genera Euphobiacearum. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. 455 pp.
• [1066] 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 Sdn. Berhad, Kuala Lumpur & Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.

Main genus page

• Croton (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• P.C. van Welzen & H.J. Esser