Cycas siamensis (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Cycas siamensis Miq.

Family: Cycadaceae

Vernacular names

• Cambodia: prâng'
• Laos: ph'aawz kh'ôôk
• Thailand: prong-liam (Trat), prong-pa (central), talapat-ruesi (south-western)
• Vietnam: thiên tuê xiêm.

Distribution

Burma, Thailand, Indo-China, northern Peninsular Malaysia.

Uses

Similar to the uses of C. rumphii.

Observations

• Dioecious palm-like tree, up to 1 m tall.
• Leaves pinnately compound, up to 75 cm long.
• Female cones terminal, crowded. Seeds obovoid-oblong, 3-4 cm long, yellow to orange.

In dry forests on limestone hills. C. pectinata Griffith (from the eastern Himalaya) is closely related and similarly used.

Selected sources

• Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2nd ed. 2 Volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.

• Hsuan Keng, 1972. Cycad seeds as food in Malaya. The Malayan Nature Journal 25: 101-103.

• Jones, D.T., 1984. Gymnosperms of Malaysia. The Cycads. Nature Malaysiana 9: 4-11.

• Kurz, W.S., 1877. Forest Flora of British Burma. 2 Volumes. Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta.

Authors

P.C.M. Jansen, J. Jukema, L.P.A. Oyen, T.G. van Lingen