Schefflera elliptica (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

1, flowering twig; 2, narrower leaflet; 3, flower; 4, fruit (Iskak Syamsudin)

Schefflera elliptica (Blume) Harms

Protologue: Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 3(8): 39 (1894).

Synonyms

• Schefflera venulosa (Wight & Arn.) Harms (1894),
• Schefflera odorata (Blanco) Merr. & Rolfe (1908),
• Schefflera bengalensis Gamble (1919).

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: panakomo (Timor), putiana ma gitipi (Halmahera), tanganan (Javanese)
• Malaysia: ara bebari, chenamah gajah (Peninsular)
• Philippines: lima-lima (Filipino), arasagat (Iloko), galamai-amo (Tagalog)
• Laos: lep mu nang, pha nha hay, tang²to¹
• Thailand: mue phranaaraai (Trat), nuat plaa muek khao (Chiang Mai), waan oi chaang (Loei)
• Vietnam: dáng nhiều gân, dáng thuôn, chân chim leo.

Distribution

From India to Indo-China, southern China, Thailand and throughout the Malesian region except for New Guinea.

Uses

The bark is employed as a bechic, the resin as a vulnerary. A decoction of the leaves is an effective antiscorbutic and may also be used in aromatic baths. The wood has been chewed to relieve toothache. In India, the roots mixed with rice are eaten to cure dropsy.

Observations

• An epiphytic or terrestrial climber or shrub up to 10 m tall.
• Leaves palmately (4-)5-7-foliolate, petiole 10-12 cm long, leaflets ovate-elliptical to obovate-elliptical, 7-18 cm × 3-10 cm, apex acute or obtuse, entire, leathery, glabrous, petiolules 1.5-6 cm long.
• Inflorescence with some branches as long as or shorter than the main axis, glabrescent, 10-20 cm long.
• Flowers 5-merous, very small, in 10-flowered umbellules which are arranged racemosely along the branches.
• Fruit globose to ovoid, usually 5-6-locular, yellow or orange becoming black.

S. elliptica is common in secondary forest and thickets, often along rivers and also frequent along the coast and in mangrove vegetation, up to 2500 m altitude.

Selected sources

• [97] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1963) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
• [190] Brown, W.H., 1951-1957. Useful plants of the Philippines. Reprint of the 1941-1943 edition. 3 volumes. Technical Bulletin 10. Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Bureau of Printing, Manila, the Philippines. Vol. 1 (1951) 590 pp., Vol. 2 (1954) 513 pp., Vol. 3 (1957) 507 pp.
• [202] 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.
• [287] 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.
• [434] Frodin, D.G., 1986. Studies in Schefflera (Araliaceae), II. Northern Luzon (Philippines) species of the Heptapleurum group. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 138: 403-425.
• [580] 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.
• [1126] 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.
• [1291] Satayavivad, J., Bunyapraphatsara, N. & Saivises, R., 1980. Pharmacological and toxicological studies to the constituents of Schefflera venulosa (Araliaceae). In: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University: 4th Asian Symposium on Medicinal Plants and Spices (Abstracts). Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. p. 47.
• [1314] Shang, C.B., 1984. Le genre Schefflera (Araliacées) en Chine et en Indochine. Candollea 39: 453-486.
• [1380] Smitinand, T., 1980. Thai plant names. Royal Forest Department, Bangkok, Thailand. 379 pp.
• [1435] Taesotikul, T., Panthong, A. & Kanjanapothi, D., 1980. Bronchodilator activity of Schefflera venulosa (family Araliaceae): preliminary investigation. In: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University: 4th Asian Symposium on Medicinal Plants and Spices: Abstracts. Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. p. 46.
• [1476] Tran Dinh Ly, 1993. 1900 Loai cay co ich o Viet nam [1900 useful plant species in Vietnam]. Hanoi, Vietnam. 544 pp.
• [1525] Vidal, J., 1962. Noms vernaculaires de plantes en usage au Laos [Vernacular names of plants used in Laos]. Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient, Paris, France. 197 pp.
• [1526] Viguier, R., 1923. Araliacées *[Araliaceae]. In: Gagnepain, F. (Editor): Flore générale de l'Indo-Chine [General flora of Indo-China]. Vol. 2. Masson & Cie, Paris, France. pp. 1158-1182.
• [1564] Whitmore, T.C. & Ng, F.S.P. (Editors), 1972-1989. Tree flora of Malaya. A manual for foresters. 2nd Edition. 4 volumes. Malayan Forest Records No 26. Longman Malaysia Sdn. Berhad, Kuala Lumpur & Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.

Main genus page

• Schefflera (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• Nguyen Tap & M.S.M. Sosef