Eleiodoxa conferta (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Eleiodoxa conferta (Griffith) Burret

Family: Palmae

Synonyms

• Salacca conferta Griffith.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: kelubi, asam paya, kuwai-kuwai (Sumatra)
• Malaysia: asam paya, kelubi, bayam
• Thailand: som lumphi.

Distribution

Indonesia (Kalimantan, Sumatra), Malaysia, Thailand.

Uses

The extremely sour sarcotesta is used throughout the distribution area of the palm as a substitute for tamarind in cooking and is sometimes made into a sweetmeat. Leaves are used for thatching and matting. A decoction of the fruit wall is used against coughs.

Observations

• Dioecious, clustering, armed palm, up to 4 m tall with subterranean stem bearing strictly axillary shoots.
• Infructescences aggregated, compound, erect at ground level between the leaf bases, with 300-400 fruits
• Fruit drupe-like subpyriform, ca. 5 cm × 4 cm, exocarp covered in neat vertical rows of reflexed scales, mesocarp somewhat spongy, endocarp not differentiated, usually 1-seeded.
• Seed subglobose, with thick, sour sarcotesta, closely adhering to the inner integument and difficult to separate from it.

Gregarious undergrowth palm of lowland fresh water swamps, especially abundant in peat swamp forest with some water movement.

Selected sources

• Polprasid, P., 1982. Genetic resources of Salacca palms in Thailand. IBPGR Regional Committee for S.E. Asia Newsletter 6: 11, 15.

• Uhl, N.W. & Dransfield, J., 1987. Genera Palmarum. The L.H. Bailey Hortorium and the International Palm Society. Allen Press, Lawrence, Kansas, USA. 610 pp.

Authors

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