Myristica cinnamomea (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Myristica cinnamomea King

Family: Myristicaceae

Vernacular names

• Malaysia: pendarah, mendarah, pala bukit
• Singapore: maiang pahong

Distribution

Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, Borneo and the Philippines.

Uses

The seed is aromatic and is used in the same way as nutmeg.

Observations

• Dioecious tree, 20-25 m tall, stem diameter 20 cm, bark dark brown to grey; twigs slender, finely scurfy.
• Leaves thinly leathery; petiole 1.5 cm long; blade oblong-lanceolate, 15-20 cm × 6-7 cm, silvery-brown beneath.
• Inflorescence a short cyme, up to 1 cm long.
• Flowers about 6 mm long.
• Fruit ovoid, 7-9 cm × 5 cm, rusty-brown scurfy; pericarp thick.
• Seed with thin, red, laciniate aril.

M. cinnamomea occurs in lowland and low hills, rarely up to 1000 m altitude.

Selected sources

• Burkill, I.H., 1935. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2 volumes. Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, United Kingdom. 2402 pp. (slightly revised reprint, 1966. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.).

• Hsuan Keng, 1990. The concise flora of Singapore. Gymnosperms and dicotyledons. Singapore University Press, Singapore. 222 pp.

• 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, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Authors

P.C.M. Jansen