Vitex glabrata (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Vitex glabrata R.Br.

Protologue: Prodr.: 512 (1810).

Synonyms

• Vitex minahassae Koord. (1898),
• Vitex helogiton K. Schumann (1905),
• Vitex pentaphylla Merr. (1909).

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: bihbul (Sundanese), gentileng, ketileng (Javanese)
• Philippines: bongoog (general), ampapalut (Balabac), talang-pulo (Camarines)
• Cambodia: popoul ach, popoul tuk
• Laos: 'khi²hen, 'khi²nok, tin nok
• Thailand: khainao (general), khi hen (north-eastern), khom khwaan (central)
• Vietnam: ma, bình linh nhãn.

Distribution

India, Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia (rare), Java, the Philippines, Sulawesi, Timor, New Guinea and northern Australia.

Uses

The root and bark are astringent. The bark is used as an anthelmintic and as a remedy for gastro-intestinal disorders. The fruit and bark are applied as a component of masticatories. The timber is used for house construction, furniture, cart-wheels and oars. The fruits are edible. In India (Assam), V. glabrata has been recommended for planting in tea plantations for shade and wood.

Observations

• A medium-sized tree up to 25 m tall, bole branchless for up to 15 m, up to 125 cm in diameter, bark surface smooth, ash-grey.
• Leaves 3-5-foliolate, leaflets elliptical-oblong to elliptical-obovate, glabrous above, except for the larger veins, glabrous to pubescent below, especially in the primary vein axils, petioluled, median leaflet 11-31 cm × 4-13.5 cm, with 12-17 pairs of lateral veins.
• Cymes axillary, solitary, lax, 7-22 cm long; calyx 3-4 mm long, with 5 small teeth, corolla yellowish-white, tube villous inside, median segment of lower lip blue-violet.
• Fruit ovoid or obovoid, 1.2-2.5 cm long, pulpy, purplish-black when mature.

V. glabrata occurs in mixed evergreen forest, often along forest edges, sometimes also in deciduous forest or grassland, up to 1000 m altitude. In Burma (Myanmar) it is often associated with teak (Tectona grandis L.f.). The density of the wood is 720-780 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content.

Selected sources

• [97] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1963) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
• [73]Burger, D., 1972. Seedlings of some tropical trees and shrubs mainly of South East Asia. Pudoc, Wageningen. 399 pp.
• [287] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1948-1976. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials & industrial products. 11 volumes. Publications and Information Directorate, New Delhi, India.
• [580] Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
• [341]Lam, H.J., 1919. The Verbenaceae of the Malayan Archipelago, together with those from the Malayan Peninsula, the Philippines, the Bismarck Archipelago and the Palau-, Marianne- and Caroline-Islands. M. de Waal, Groningen. 370 pp. + 3 plates.
• [344]Lam, H.J. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1921. Revision of the Verbenaceae of the Dutch East Indies and surrounding countries. Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg, Série III, 3: 1–116.
• [414]Meniado, J.A. et al., 1975–1981. Wood identification handbook for Philippine timbers. 2 volumes. Government Printing Office, Manila. 370 pp. & 186 pp.
• [425]Merrill, E.D., 1922. New or noteworthy Philippine plants XVII. Philippine Journal of Science, Section C. Botany 20: 367–476.
• [440]Moldenke, H.N., 1956. Materials toward a monograph of the genus Vitex V. Phytologia 5(8): 343–393.
• [474]Oey Djoen Seng, 1951. Perbandingan berat dari jenis-jenis kaju Indonesia dan pengartian beratnja kaju untuk keperluan praktek [Specific gravity of Indonesian woods and its significance for practical use]. Laporan No 46. Balai Penjelidikan Kehutanan, Bogor. 183 pp.
• [1128] Pételot, A., 1952-1954. Les plantes médicinales du Cambodge, du Laos et du Vietnam *[The medicinal plants of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam]. 4 volumes. Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques et Techniques, Saigon, Vietnam.
• [1215] Reyes, L.J., 1938. Philippine woods. Technical Bulletin No 7. Commonwealth of the Philippines, Department of Agriculture and Commerce. Bureau of Printing, Manila, the Philippines. 536 pp. + 88 plates.
• [600]Steup, F.K.M., 1932. Bijdragen tot de kennis der bosschen van Noord- en Midden Celebes – III. Het zogenaamde tjempaka-hoetan complex in de Minahassa [Contributions to the knowledge about the forests of North and Central Sulawesi – III. The cempaka-hutan forest complex in the Minahassa]. Tectona 25: 119–147.
• [1413] Sunarno, B., Lemmens, R.H.M.J. & Ani binti Sulaiman, 1995. Vitex L. In: Lemmens, R.H.M.J., Soerianegara, I. & Wong, W.C. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 5(2). Timber trees: Minor commercial timbers. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, the Netherlands. pp. 502-509.
• [648]Troup, R.S., 1921. Silviculture of Indian trees. 3 volumes. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
• [1562] Werawattanametin, K., Podimuang, V. & Suksamrarn, A., 1986. Ecdysteroids from Vitex glabrata. Journal of Natural Products 49(2): 365-366.
• [705]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 SDN. Berhad, Kuala Lumpur & Petaling Jaya.
• [706]Whitmore, T.C., Tantra, I.G.M. & Sutisna, U., 1986–1990. Tree flora of Indonesia. Checklists for Sumatra, Sulawesi, Bali, Nusa Tengara & Timor, Maluku and Kalimantan. 6 volumes. Agency for Forestry Research and Development, Forest Research and Development Centre, Bogor.

Main genus page

• Vitex (Medicinal plants)
• Vitex (Timbers)

Authors

• E.P. Capareda