Entada rheedii (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Entada rheedii Spreng.

Protologue: Syst. veg. 2: 325 (1825).

Synonyms

• Entada pursaetha DC. (1825).

In the literature E. rheedii is often wrongly identified as Entada scandens auct. non Benth., Entada phaseoloides auct. non (L.) Merr. (1923).

Vernacular names

• Elephant climber, matchbox bean (En).
• Liane à boeuf (Fr)
• Indonesia: bendo (Javanese), cariu (Sundanese), bambalu (Bugis)
• Malaysia: akar beluru, akar kapang
• Philippines: gogo (Tagalog, Bikol)
• Cambodia: var ang koung
• Laos: m’ba
• Thailand: ma ba (general), saba mon (central), kham ton (northern)
• Vietnam: dây chàm, bàm bàm man.

Distribution

From Africa, eastward to tropical Asia, Australia and a small part of the Pacific; in Malesia recorded for the Philippines (Luzon, Mindanao) and Peninsular Malaysia eastward to Borneo, Java, Sulawesi, the Lesser Sunda Islands, the Moluccas and New Guinea.

Uses

The bark containing saponins is used as a hair wash and soap substitute, as a medicine against pains, itch and perhaps fever. Seeds also contain saponins and are applied similarly and as a poultice to cure colic in children. The smooth shining seeds are used for games and to polish various artifacts by rubbing.

Observations

• A large woody climber, up to 120 m long; rachis (4.5-)6-8(-10.5) cm long, pinnae 2 pairs, 5-15 cm long, 3-4(-5) pairs of leaflets per pinna, leaflets obovate to elliptical-lanceolate, unequal-sided, (1.4-)2.3-7 cm × (1-)1.3-3.5 cm, base rounded to broadly cuneate, somewhat asymmetrical.
• Inflorescence an axillary spike, 12-25 cm long.
• Flowers sessile or subsessile, male or bisexual, minute, calyx green, broadly cup-shaped, petals white.
• Pod straight to slightly curved, up to 200 cm × 7-15 cm, exocarp and endocarp woody.
• Seed subcircular, flat, 3.5-4 cm in diameter, 1 cm thick, brown.

E. rheedii is found in primary and secondary forest, especially along rivers, inland from the mangrove and in beach forest, up to 400(-900) m altitude.

Selected sources

• [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.
• [215] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1948—1976. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials & industrial products. 11 volumes. Publications and Information Directorate, New Delhi, India.
• [407] Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI 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.
• [788] Pételot, A., 1952—1954. Les plantes médicinales du Cambodge, du Laos et du Vietnam [The medicinal plants of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam]. 4 volumes. Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques et Techniques, Saigon, Vietnam.
• [810] Quisumbing, E., 1978. Medicinal plants of the Philippines. Katha Publishing Co., Quezon City, the Philippines. 1262 pp.
• [1038] 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

• Entada

Authors

• L.J.G. van der Maesen