Derris elegans (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Derris elegans Graham ex Benth.

Protologue: Miq., Pl. jungh.: 252 (1852).

Vernacular names

• Malaysia: akar tuba (Peninsular)
• Papua New Guinea: imora (Kabali, Central Province).

Distribution

India, Indo-China, Thailand, throughout Malesia, the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides.

Uses

D. elegans has been employed as a fish poison in New Guinea and possibly Peninsular Malaysia. A solution of crushed leaves in (green) coconut water is used in Papua New Guinea to wash snake bites.

Observations

• A liana or scandent shrub up to 10 m long, branches purplish-brown.
• Leaflets 3-5(-7), glabrous or adpressed hairy below.
• Inflorescence axillary or fascicled on older branches.
• Flowers with brown, pink or red calyx and white corolla, standard without callosities at base, glabrous or pubescent at extreme tip.
• Fruit elliptical or oblong-elliptical, with a narrow wing along one side, finally orange-brown.

Three varieties are distinguished: var. elegans (synonym: D. rufula Lauterb. & K. Schumann) occurring throughout the area of the species, var. gracillima (Hemsley) Verdc. (synonyms: D. cauliflora Pulle, D. momiensis Kanehira & Hatusima, D. papuana Pulle) from the Moluccas, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides, and var. vestita (Baker) Prain (synonym: D. vestita Baker) from Malesia. D. elegans occurs in forest along the coast, on coastal plains, in sago swamps and in secondary and riverine forest, up to 600 m altitude; often on alluvial soils, but also on limestone soils.

Selected sources

• 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.
• Holdsworth, D.K., 1977. Medicinal plants of Papua New Guinea. Technical Paper No 175. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 123 pp.
• Verdcourt, B., 1979. A manual of New Guinea legumes. Botany Bulletin No 11. Office of Forests, Division of Botany, Lae, Papua New Guinea. 645 pp.

Main genus page

• Derris (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• Auzay Hamid