Willughbeia tenuiflora (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Willughbeia tenuiflora Dyer ex Hook.f.

Protologue: Apocynaceae

Synonyms

Ancylocladus tenuiflorus (Hook.f.) Kuntze.

Vernacular names

• Malaysia: akar getah gerip, akar jitan, akar segerang (Peninsular).

Distribution

Malaysia (Peninsular), Singapore, Indonesia (Sumatra).

Uses

The plant produces abundant yellowish latex which, however, gives an inferior rubber. It is hardly flexible but becomes so in hot water. Formerly this latex was mixed with latex of other species to produce a better quality rubber and to adulterate gutta-percha. The fruits are edible. The latex has been used to cure scabies and other skin diseases.

Observations

Large woody liana with glabrous to pubescent branches, containing abundant latex. Leaves opposite; petiole up to 2 cm long; blade elliptical, oblong or obovate, 5-20 cm × 2-8 cm, about 2-3 times as long as wide, base cuneate, apex acuminate. Inflorescence an axillary cyme, up to 4 cm long with 8-18 flowers; flowers 5-merous, white, bisexual; corolla tubular, tube up to 15 mm long, lobes oblong and up to 2 cm long. Fruit a pear-shaped berry, 6-15 cm long, 5-12 cm wide. Seed compressed ovoid, about 2 cm long. W. tenuiflora grows in primary and secondary forest, up to 1500 m altitude, on well-drained soils.

Selected sources

11, 20, 23, 27, 31, 42.