Pipturus arborescens (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia
Introduction

Pipturus arborescens (Link) C.B. Robinson

Protologue: Philipp. Journ. Sci., Bot. 6: 13 (1911).

Family: Urticaceae

Synonyms

Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, the Philippines and Borneo.

In the Philippines, scrapings from the bark are used externally as a cataplasm for boils. The composite fruits are edible.

A monoecious or dioecious shrub or small tree up to 10 m tall, twigs with dense short hairs.
Leaves ovate to orbicular, 6-20 cm × 3-11 cm, base obtuse, rounded to cordate, apex acute to acuminate, margin serrate to crenulate, slightly hairy above, densely woolly beneath, petiole 2-10 cm long, stipules up to 10 mm long, apex bifid.
Male flowers in dense axillary fascicles, 4-merous, perianth pubescent; female flowers in dense hemispherical heads, 5-6 mm in diameter, perianth pubescent, ribbed, style long-exserted.
Achene partially immersed in the white, soft, fleshy receptacle, up to 10 mm in diameter.

P. arborescens is common in thickets and secondary forest at low to medium altitudes, locally up to 2000 m altitude.

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