Sarcandra glabra (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Sarcandra glabra (Thunb.) Nakai subsp. brachystachys (Blume) Verdc.

Family: Chloranthaceae

Bladhia glabra Thunb., Chloranthus brachystachys Blume, Sarcandra hainanensis (Pei) Swamy & Bailey.

• Indonesia: atukan (Javanese), kayu duri-duri (Sumatra), lawi-nata (Flores)
• Philippines: apot, damoko (Igorot), kari-kari (Bagobo)
• Vietnam: sói láng, sói rừng.

North-eastern India, Burma (Myanmar), northern Vietnam, southern China, Thailand and throughout the Malesian region.

The uses of S. glabra subsp. brachystachys seem similar to those of Chloranthus erectus (Buch.-Ham.) Verdc. The roots are used to prepare or flavour tea, but less frequently because the species is much rarer. In the Philippines an infusion is used to treat headache. In China it is occasionally planted for ornamental purposes.

A glabrous shrub or woody herb up to 3 m tall; stem with thickened nodes. Leaves decussate; stipules linear, 1.5 mm long; petiole up to 1.5 cm long; blade elliptical-oblanceolate to lanceolate, 2-20 cm × 1-8 cm, cuneate at base, margin sharply serrate or serrate-dentate, apex long acuminate. Inflorescence a terminal raceme, consisting of opposite spikes each up to 5 cm long with up to 13 flowers; flowers bisexual, without a perianth; the male part reduced to a club-shaped organ with 2 thecae implanted upon the ovary; ovary flask-shaped to subglobose, 1-locular with a single ovule, stigma sessile. Fruit a red or bright orange or rarely black drupe, 9-15 mm × 7-10 mm. S. glabra subsp. brachystachys is found in evergreen, primary and secondary forest on podzolic soils, shingle banks, eroded limestone and shale slopes, at 100-2550 m altitude. It differs from subsp. glabra , which occurs in continental East Asia from India (and Sri Lanka) to Japan, by the thecae being about as long as the whole male structure; in subsp. glabra the thecae are much shorter and the non-antheriferous part well-developed. Black-fruited forms from Sumatra have been distinguished as var. melanocarpa (Ridley) Verdc. Within Malesia it has been observed flowering in February and April-June. The wood is vesselless and contains guaiacyl lignin, normally found only in gymnospermous wood.

15, 16, 26, 30, 49, 54, 57.

M.S.M. Sosef