Enkleia malaccensis (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Enkleia malaccensis Griffith

Family: Thymelaeaceae

Synonyms

• Enkleia coriacea Hallier f.,
• E. malayana Griffith,
• Linostoma scandens (Endl.) Kurz.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: tementak akar (Bangka), terap akar (Sumatra), aka dian (Kalimantan)
• Malaysia: kapang akar, akar puchong kapur, akar kareh hitam.

Distribution

Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra and Borneo.

Uses

The wood is aromatic, but considered inferior to agar wood. The bast fibres can be used for tying.

Observations

• Woody climber, up to 30 m long and 30 cm in diameter; branches red-brown, young ones ferrugineous pubescent and sometimes transformed into hook-like organs.
• Leaves subopposite, coriaceous, golden-brown velutinous; petiole 6-12 mm long; blade ovate to elliptical, 3.5-15 cm × 2-10 cm.
• Inflorescence paniculately branched, terminal, 15-30 cm long, each branch with 4-14 flowers arranged like an umbel.
• Calyx tubular, 5-6 mm long, 5-lobed, yellow-green, golden-brown velutinous, persistent in fruit; corolla reduced to 10 petaloid appendages of 1 mm length inside the calyx tube; stamens 10, in 2 whorls, subsessile; pistil with unilocular ovary, filiform style up to 1 mm long and clavate stigma.
• Fruit an ovoid drupe, 10-15 mm × 6-8 mm, prominently ribbed.

E. malaccensis occurs in primary forest below 50 m altitude. Flowering and fruiting occur between April and October; usually only one fruit develops per inflorescence branch. E. malaccensis is closely related to Enkleia siamensis (Kurz) Nevling, occurring in Burma (Myanmar), Thailand and Indo-China and is included in E. malaccensis by some authors. E. siamensis yields a bast fibre used for tying, a decoction of its leaves is used to cure eye diseases and the fruits are used as a purgative.

Selected sources

• Burkill, I.H., 1935. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2 volumes. Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, United Kingdom. 2402 pp. (slightly revised reprint, 1966. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.).
• Flore du Cambodge, du Laos et du Vietnam [Flora of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam] (various editors), 1960- . Vol. 1-28. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Laboratoire de Phanérogamie, Paris, France.
• Heyne, K., 1927. De nuttige planten van Nederlandsch Indië [The useful plants of the Dutch East Indies]. 2nd edition. 3 volumes. Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel in Nederlandsch Indië. 1953 pp. (3rd edition, 1950. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage/Bandung, the Netherlands/Indonesia. 1660 pp.).
• Nevling, L.I., 1961. A revision of the Asiatic genus Enkleia (Thymelaeaceae). Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 42: 372-396.
• van Steenis, C.G.G.J. et al. (Editors), 1950- . Flora Malesiana. Series 1. Vol. 1, 4- . Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, the Netherlands.

Authors

P.C.M. Jansen