Mastersia bakeri (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Mastersia bakeri (Koorders) Backer ex Heyne

Family: Leguminosae - Papilionoideae

Synonyms

• Mucuna bakeri Koorders,
• Mastersia borneensis Harms.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: tatamulak (Minahasa, northern Sulawesi), naneke nomoro, rarau (Halmahera, Moluccas).

Distribution

Northern Borneo, northern and central Sulawesi, the Moluccas. Occasionally cultivated in eastern Indonesia.

Uses

Grown as a cover crop e.g. in coconut plantations in northern Sulawesi, quickly forming a good ground cover, nodulating well and preventing the establishment of an Imperata grass cover.

Observations

• Herbaceous to woody, climbing herb, 5-18 m long. Branches 1.5-4 cm in diameter.
• Leaves trifoliolate; stipules 3.5-6 mm × 1.5-4 mm; petiole 8-15 cm long; leaflets elliptical to broadly ovate, 4.5-15 cm × 3.5-14 cm, acumen about 5 mm long, usually pubescent on both surfaces, glands occasionally present.
• Inflorescence a pseudo-raceme, 6-30 cm long.
• Flowers up to 2 cm long; calyx tubular, 4-lobed; standard elliptical to broadly ovate, 8-14 mm × 6-9 mm, claw usually absent; wings 8-14 mm × 2.5-4 mm, clawed; keel 12-18 mm × 6 mm, clawed, lateral pocket present.
• Pod 5-13 cm × 2-3 cm, winged along both edges, 5-20-seeded.
• Seed reniform, dark greyish-brown, arranged longitudinally, rim aril brownish-white.

M. bakeri occurs in primary and secondary forest, especially in open spots and on wasteland, up to 900 m altitude.

Selected sources

• Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr., R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. 647, 641, 761 pp.
• Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, the Hague, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 261, 1450 pp.
• van Welzen, P.C. & den Hengst, S., 1984. The genus Mastersia (Papilionaceae: Phaseoleae). Blumea 30: 77-87.

Authors

• M.S.M. Sosef & L.J.G. van der Maesen