Pottsia laxiflora (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Pottsia laxiflora (Blume) Kuntze

Family: Apocynaceae

Synonyms

Pottsia cantonensis Hook. & Arn.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: tembelekan (Javanese).

Distribution

India, southern China, Indo-China, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Uses

In Indonesia the stems are split, and the splits twisted into rough cordage. In China the stems serve as cordage, and stems and leaves are used to treat fractures and injury, while latex and roots are applied for anaemia and rheumatism.

Observations

A liana up to 10 m long. Branches and branchlets slender, pubescent or glabrous. Leaves opposite; petiole 1.5-4 cm; blade ovate, narrowly ovate or elliptical, 6-12 cm × 3-7 cm, base obtuse to rounded or subcordate, lateral veins 4-6 pairs. Inflorescence a cyme, up to 25 cm long, long-pedunculate, many-flowered; corolla purple or rose, about 7 mm, tube glabrous, longer than lobes, lobes spreading, narrowly ovate, about 2 mm long; ovary pilose, style thickened at middle. Fruit consisting of paired linear follicles up to 55 cm × 3-5 mm. Seed linear, about 2 cm, coma 2.5-3 cm. P. laxiflora occurs in open forest, forest borders and brushwood at altitudes of 200-1100 m. In southern China it flowers from April to August.

Selected sources

6, 20, 30, 71, 201.

Authors

M. Brink, P.C.M. Jansen & C.H. Bosch