Gleditsia fera (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Gleditsia fera (Lour.) Merr.

Protologue: Philipp. Journ. Sci., Bot. 13: 141 (1918).

Synonyms

• Gleditsia rolfei S. Vidal (1886),
• Gleditsia celebica Koord. (1898),
• Gleditsia formosana Hayata (1911),
• Gleditsia thorelii Gagnep. (1913).

Vernacular names

• Philippines: tahid-labuyo, tiri (Tagalog)
• Vietnam: tao giác, chùm kết.

Distribution

G. fera is found in northern Thailand, Indo-China, southern China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Sulawesi. Occasionally cultivated in China and Vietnam.

Uses

A decoction of the leaves is used as a purgative in Indo-China. The pulp of the pods is also applied in local medicine, whereas the pods are locally used as an insecticide. The wood is suitable for indoor construction purposes.

Observations

• A tree up to 22 m tall, branches armed with thorns up to 8 cm long.
• Leaves 10-24 cm long, bipinnate or pinnate and up to 26-foliolate; leaflets oblong to lanceolate, 2.5-7 cm × 1-2.5 cm, irregularly crenate.
• Inflorescence a downy raceme up to 12 cm long.
• Flowers up to 6 mm in diameter, pedicel short.
• Fruit straight or bent, 15-30 cm × 2-4 cm, up to 20-seeded.
• Seed ellipsoid, 12 mm × 6 mm, yellowish, embedded in pulpy tissue.

G. fera is found in rain forest up to 250(-900) m altitude, in Thailand at 1400 m.

Selected sources

• [256] Ding Hou, Larsen, K. & Larsen, S.S., 1996. Caesalpiniaceae (Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae). In: Kalkman, C., Kirkup, D.W., Nooteboom, H.P., Stevens, P.F. & de Wilde, W.J.J.O. (Editors): Flora Malesiana. Series 1, Vol. 12(2). Rijksherbarium/Hortus Botanicus, Leiden, the Netherlands. pp. 409—730.
• [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.
• [584] Larsen, K., 1989. Gleditsia Linn. (Leguminosae - Caesalpinioideae) a genus new to Thailand. Thai Forest Bulletin, Botany 18: 84—87.
• [585] Larsen, K., Larsen, S.S. & Vidal, J.E., 1980. Légumineuses-Caesalpinioïdées [Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae]. In: Vidal, J.E. & Vidal, Y. (Editors): Flore du Cambodge, du Laos et du Viêtnam [Flora of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam]. Vol. 18. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France. 227 pp.

Main genus page

• Gleditsia

Authors

• H.C. Ong