Cnestis palala (Lour.) Merr.
Family
Connaraceae
Synonyms
Cnestis diffusa Blanco, Cnestis platantha Griffith.
Vernacular Names
|
Malaysia |
Garing-garing, sembelit merah, sembelit kecil (Peninsular). |
|
Indonesia |
Andor balimbing, baih patuh senggulin, jukut abang (Sumatra). |
|
Philippines |
Kalakalamyasan (Tagalog), salsaladoi (Iloko), palo santo (Sp). |
|
Laos |
‘hon kai, ‘sã mãt, bén bit. |
|
Thailand |
Kra phaak laak (Trat), ngonkai (Central), maadaeng (Peninsular). |
|
Vietnam |
Tr[uw][owf]ngkh[ees], d[aa]y v[aws]p c[aaf]y. |
Geographical Distributions
Cnestis palala occurs in the Andaman Islands, southern Burma (Myanmar), southern Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, northern part of the Philippines and Sulawesi.
Description
This is a small to large liana, which can reach up to 25 m long, or a shrub. It is often with climbing branches and rarely a small tree up to 10 m tall. The branchlets are densely brown-hairy, but becoming hairless with age.
The leaves are imparipinnate with 6- to 21-jugate. The petiole is 1-7 cm long while stipules are absent. The lateral leaflets are narrowly ovate or narrowly oblong to ovate or oblong, measuring (1-)1.5-8 cm x 0.7-2.5 cm, while the terminal leaflet is narrowly elliptical or narrowly obovate to elliptical or obovate, measuring 3-8 cm x 1-3 cm. The leaflets are densely hairy below. The petiolules are 0.5-1.5 mm long.
The inflorescence is an axillary raceme or panicle, on older branches, it is densely yellowish-brown hairy and up to 35-flowered. The flowers are bisexual, regular, 5-merous and obscurely heterostylous / distylous. The pedicel is articulated. The 2-5 mm long sepals are narrowly ovate to narrowly oblong, while petals are ovate or elliptical to narrowly oblong, measuring (0.5-)2-4(-5) mm long and white to creamy. The 10 stamens are slightly differing in length in the 2 whorls. There are 5 carpels, free and superior.
The fruit consists of 1-3 follicles, ellipsoid to pear-shaped, 2.5-6 cm long, densely reddish-hairy outside and with long yellowish hairs inside. Each follicle is 1-seeded.
The seed is ovoid, 1.5-3 cm long, black and with an arilloid at base. The cotyledons are thin and veined while the endosperm is abundant.
Ecology / Cultivation
C. palala occurs in primary and secondary rainforests up to 500 m altitude, also in riverine and marsh forests, sometimes in dry forests and thickets.
Line Drawing / Photograph
References
-
Plant Resources of South-East Asia No.12(3): Medicinal and poisonous plants 3.
