Paranephelium Miq. (PROSEA)
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Introduction |
- Family: Sapindaceae
Major species and synonyms
- Paranephelium joannis M. Davids.
- Paranephelium macrophyllum King.
- Paranephelium spirei Lecomte, synonym: P. hainanense Lo.
- Paranephelium xestophyllum Miq., synonyms: P. gibbosum Teijsm. & Binnend., P. longifoliolatum Lecomte, P. nitidum King.
Vernacular names
- P. joannis
- Malaysia: kiah (Iban, Sarawak).
- P. macrophyllum
- Thailand: ka-haa (Malay-Yala), ku-ping yasi (Malay-Pattani), khan (peninsular).
- P. spirei
- Laos: dok fan pin.
- P. xestophyllum
- Malaysia: ambuakat, ampungot (Dusun, Sabah)
- Philippines: malaalua
- Thailand: khoh maai, ma haang kaen (northern), lamyai paa (central).
Distribution
Paranephelium is a genus with only 4 species, naturally occurring in continental South-East Asia and western Malesia. Some species are also occasionally cultivated in and outside their natural area of distribution.
- P. joannis . Borneo.
- P. macrophyllum . Thailand (peninsular) and Peninsular Malaysia. Formerly it was often grown in villages of northern Malaysia for the oil of the seeds. Cultivation came to an end with the advent of kerosene.
- P. spirei . Thailand, Indo-China, China (Hainan) and Peninsular Malaysia.
- P. xestophyllum . China (Yunnan) and continental South-East Asia, Sumatra, Borneo and the Philippines.
Uses
The seeds of all species yield an oil which can be used for illumination and heating and sometimes also as a cooking oil. Medicinally the oil is applied to treat skin complaints. The seeds are eaten baked or cooked and taste like the Chinese water chestnut ( Eleocharis dulcis (Burm.f.) Trin. ex Henschel). Eating too many of them may cause giddiness. The wood is not suitable as timber but it is a good-quality firewood.
Observations
Small to medium-sized, monoecious trees, sometimes shrubs. Leaves spirally arranged, impari-pinnately compound with subopposite leaflets. Inflorescences ramiflorous, axillary, panicle-like or thyrsoid, erect, branches with many clusters of several flowered cymules; flowers 5-merous, sweetly fragrant, functionally unisexual, regular; calyx cup-shaped with 5 lobes or with free sepals; petals 5, longer than calyx; disk a flat ring; stamens 5-9, free, exserted in male flowers; pistil sessile, with subglobular, tuberculate ovary, a simple style and a flat or lobed stigma. Infructescences strongly lignified; fruit a subglobose, loculicidal capsule, smooth, ribbed, warty or spiny, dehiscing with 3 or 4 valves, containing 1 seed, resembling a horse-chestnut fruit ( Aesculus spp., Hippocastanaceae ). Seed subglobose to slightly 2-3-lobed, without arillode but with a white hilar spot covering up to 75% of the seed. Paranephelium species are mainly higher understorey trees of the primary rain forest, mixed deciduous forest or dry evergreen forest, particularly near streams, from sea-level up to 300(-700) m altitude. Some distinguishing characteristics of the species are:
- P. joannis . Tree or shrub, 6-24 m tall, sometimes with buttresses up to 1.5 m tall or with stilt roots, trunk diameter 10-60 cm; leaves 2-3-jugate, leaflets subobovate, 10-51 cm × 4-22 cm, margin entire, midrib always visible, veins straight and abruptly curving near the margin; inflorescence stout, 20-40 cm long, flowers sometimes irregular, 1-2 mm long, white; fruit 4 cm in diameter, spiny, yellow-brown, red to black. In Borneo, it flowers in March-April and August-September, fruits in July-November and January-February.
- P. macrophyllum . Tree or shrub, 4-12 m tall, trunk diameter 10-60 cm; leaves 3-5-jugate, bright red when young; leaflets elliptical, 6-32 cm × 3-13 cm, margin dentate, midrib invisible, lateral veins straight, abruptly curving near the margin; inflorescence stout, 25-60 cm long, flowers 2-3 mm long, pinkish to white; fruit subglobose, 3-4 cm in diameter, densely, sharply-pointed spiny, grey-brown to red. In Peninsular Malaysia it flowers in March-April and July-September, fruits in July and October-February.
- P. spirei . Tree up to 25 m tall, trunk diameter up to 30 cm, often shortly fluted; leaves 2-4-jugate; leaflets elliptical, 5-34 cm × 2-15 cm, margin dentate, midrib visible, veins gradually curving; inflorescence 8-28 cm long; flowers regular, 2 mm long, fragrant, white-yellow; fruit 3-4 cm in diameter, spiny (spines with swollen bases), brown-black. Flowering year-round, in Indo-China particularly in March-May, fruiting May-July.
- P. xestophyllum . Tree or shrub, 3-40 m tall, trunk diameter 10-75 cm, often with stilt roots or buttresses up to 70 cm tall; leaves 1-6-jugate; leaflets elliptical, 3-42 cm × 1-14 cm, margin entire, midrib visible, lateral veins curving gradually but stronger near the margin; inflorescence delicate and clustered, up to 30 cm long; flowers regular, 1-3 mm long, white to yellowish; fruit 3-4 cm in diameter, smooth, gibbose or spiny, yellow-brown. Flowering and fruiting year-round, major flowering period in Malesia is February-July, fruiting May-September. In the northern distribution area with seasonal monsoon climate, the number of leaflets, hairiness and inflorescence size tend to increase while the fruits become more spiny.
Selected sources
19, 29, 71, 104, 116, 135.
