Alstonia macrophylla Wallich ex G. Don
Family
Apocynaceae
Synonyms
A. batino Blanco, A. pangkorensis King & Gamble, A. brassii Monach.
Vernacular Names
| Malaysia | Pulai penipu bukit (Peninsular), pulai daun besar, sayongan (Sabah). |
| English | Hard alstonia, hard milkwood. |
| Indonesia | Pule batu (Ambon), kai riti (Seram), ai oi (Biak). |
| Papua New Guinea | Ai wawoi (Papua), andelagar (Enga), dero (Madang). |
| Philippines | Batino (Tagalog, Bikol, Pangasinan), kuyau-kuyau (Bikol), itang-itang(Panay Bisaya). |
| Thailand | Thungfa, kra thungfa hai, teen thian (Peninsular). |
| Vietnam | s[uwx]a l[as] l[ows]n, m[ows]p l[as] to. |
Geographical Distributions
From Sri Lanka and Nicobar Islands, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam to Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo (Sabah), the Philippines, the Moluccas and New Guinea. Cultivated in India and Africa.
Description
Alstonia macrophylla is a small to medium-sized tree that can reach measures up to 30(-50) m tall, with straight bole, measuring up to 100 cm in diametre and sometimes fluted at the base or with small buttresses. The outer bark is blackish-brown to grey, smooth or rough, minutely scaly, tuberculate, or fissured while the inner bark is cream, with broken and orange-yellow laminations and without latex.
The leaves are in whorls of 3-4, obovate or narrowly obovate, sometimes elliptical to narrowly elliptical, with a size of measuring 4.5-25(-32) cm x 1.5-10.5 cm, rounded to narrowly acuminate apex, with 12-25(-31) pairs of secondary veins while the petiole is measures 2-25 mm long.
The inflorescence is with many-flowered and with measures 1-4 mm long pedicel. The sepal is puberulous to hairless while the inside of the petal is hairless. The follicles are smooth.
Ecology / Cultivation
A. macrophylla grows in a wide range of vegetation types and soils in primary and disturbed forest ranging from flooded areas to montane forest, on soils ranging from sandy clay to limestone, from sea-level to about 2900 m altitude.
Line Drawing / Photograph
References
- Plant Resources of South-East Asia No. 12 (2): Medicinal and poisonous plants.
