Glycosmis pentaphylla
Family
Rutaceae
Synonyms
Limonia pentaphylla Retz., Glycosmis arborea (Roxb.) A.DC., Glycosmis cochinchinensis auct.
Vernacular Names
| Malaysia | Merapi, nerapi, terapi. |
| Indonesia | Gongseng (Sundanese), jerukan, totoan (Javanese). |
| Philippines | Gingging (Tagalog, linauin (Iloko).) |
| Cambodia | Dom phlang. Laos: som sum, om chune. |
| Vietnam | C[ow]m r[uw]-[owj]u, b[uw][owr]i bung. |
Geographical Distributions
G. pentaphylla is found from India and Sri Lanka eastward to Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, southern China and Indo-China, possibly the Philippines, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Java and also cultivated elsewhere.
Description
It is an evergreen shrub or small tree that reaches to a height of between 1-5 m . The branches are hairless, unarmed, young parts finely rusty and puberulent.
Leaves are alternate, pinnate with an unpaired terminal leaflet with (1-)3-5(-7) leaflets supported by a 2.5-5.5 cm long stalk. The leaflets are narrowly elliptical or oblong-elliptical with a size of 6-24 cm x 2-7 cm. The base is acuminate, margin is entire or minutely and distinctly with small teeth-serrate, lateral veins 6-12 pairs and supported with 3-8 mm long leaflet stalk.
Inflorescence is arising from the axils, paniculate, elongated up to 8 cm long, narrow, tri-pinnate, branches short, ascending, axes and bracteoles rusty covered with down and fine hair. Its flowers are about 5 mm long, fragrant; sepals are broadly egg-shaped to rotund, 1-1.5 mm long, margin ciliolate; petals are reverse egg-shaped to elliptical, 5 mm x 2.5 mm, hairless, white with stamens up to 3.5 mm long.The ovary is ovoid, up to 2.5 mm long, coarsely blister-like prominences-glandular, usually 5-celled, style scarcely distinct.
Its fruit is a berry, nearly spherical, white to pink or crimson, 10-13.5 mm in diametere, 1(-3)-seeded and edible.
Its seed is round to plano-convex, nearly longer than broad with the side parallel and green.
Ecology / Cultivation
G. pentaphylla prefers relatively dry habitats from sea-level up to 1000 m altitude, and is commonly encountered in secondary thickets.
Line Drawing / Photograph
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References
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Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 12(2). 1998, Unesco.
