Gnetum tenuifolium (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Gnetum tenuifolium Ridley

Family: Gnetaceae

Vernacular names

• Indonesia, Malaysia: dagun, mentada, akar putat
• Thailand: muei-nok (Pattani).

Distribution

Peninsular Thailand and Malaysia, Sumatra.

Uses

The seeds are eaten boiled. The root is cooked and eaten, and a decoction of it is drunk after childbirth.

Observations

• A slender liana with leaves up to 24 cm long.
• Inflorescences erect simple spikes, 2-4 cm long.
• Fruit nutlike, ellipsoid, 2 cm long, furrowed lengthwise, stalked, crowded in dense spikes.

The root is chalky white inside. In rain forests at low altitudes.

Selected sources

• Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2nd ed. 2 Volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.

• van Steenis, C.G.G.J. et al. (Editors), 1950-. Flora Malesiana. Series 1. Vol. 1, 4-10. Centre for Research and Development in Biology, Bogor, Indonesia, and Rijksherbarium, Leiden, the Netherlands. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Boston, London.

Authors

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