Rourea minor(Gaertner) Alston
Family
Connaraceae
Synonyms
Rourea santaloides (Vahl) Wight & Arnott, Santalodes floridum (Jack) O. Kuntze, Santalodes pulchellum (Planch.) O. Kuntze, Rourea erecta Merr., Santaloides erectum Schellenb.
Vernacular Names
|
Malaysia |
Akar nyamuk, akar sembelit (Peninsular). |
|
Philippines |
Kamagsa, gikos-gikos (Tagalog). |
|
Vietnam |
D[ooj]c ch[os], tr[os]c claar ]u. |
Geographical Distributions
Rourea minor is distributed from tropical Africa, Madagascar, to Sri Lanka, continental Southeast Asia, throughout Malaysia (except the Lesser Sunda Islands and east of Bali), to northern Australia, New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, Fiji and Samoa.
Description
Rourea minor is a large liana that can reach up to 26 m long and its stem is up to 15 cm in diametre. It is rarely a small tree or shrub with smooth twigs.
The leaves are unifoliolate to 9-jugate. The leaflets are suborbicular or ovate to lance-shaped, with one terminal that is sometimes obovate, measure 1-25 cm x 0.5-10 cm, acute to cordate at base, oblique to equilateral, short and broad to caudate at apex, acuminate and with blunt acumen.
The inflorescence is in the upper leaf axils or pseudo-terminal consisting of 1-5 axes. The central axis is up to 20 cm long, loosely paniculate to subracemose and many-flowered. The sepal is 2-3 mm long, minutely hairy to hairless while the petal is 4-7.5 mm long.
The follicle is oblique-ellipsoid to oblique-ovoid, straight to curved, measures1-3 cm x 0.3-1 cm and dehiscing with a ventral lengthwise slit or circumscissile at the base.
Ecology / Cultivation
Rourea minor occurs in habitats ranging from secondary forests and bamboo forests to primary rainforests, and swamps to coastal rocks, with a preference for more open locations, from sea level up to 1800 m altitude.
Line Drawing / Photograph
References
- Plant Resources of South-East Asia No.12(2): Medicinal and poisonous plants 2.
