Etlingera littoralis (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Etlingera littoralis (Koenig) Giseke

Family: Zingiberaceae

Synonyms

• Achasma megalocheilos Griffith.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: kedungkel (Malay), tepus (Sundanese).

Distribution

Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Java, Sumatra, Borneo.

Uses

The fruits are collected from the wild and eaten.

Observations

• Large perennial herb, up to 6 m tall with slender rhizome.
• Leaves lanceolate, up to 90 cm × 12 cm with petiole up to 4.5 cm long.
• Fruiting-head 12-20 fruits, 8 cm in diameter.
• Fruit berry-like, subglobose, 2.5 cm in diameter, unevenly many-sided due to lateral pressure, smooth, yellow.

In primary forests and teak forests, common in Peninsular Malaysia, rare in Indonesia, up to 1300 m altitude.

Selected sources

• Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1963 1968. Flora of Java. 3 Volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands.

• Heyne, K., 1927. De nuttige planten van Nederlandsch Indië [The useful plants of the Dutch East Indies]. 2nd ed. 3 Volumes. Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel in Nederlandsch Indië. 1953 pp.

• Holttum, R.E., 1950. The Zingiberaceae of the Malay Peninsula. The Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 13: 1-249.

• Smith, R.M., 1985-1986. A review of Bornean Zingiberaceae 1 & 2. Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 42: 261-314, 43: 439-466.

Authors

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