Quassia indica (Gaertner)
Family
Simaroubaceae
Synonyms
Samadera indica Gaertner, Manungala pendula Blanco.
Vernacular Names
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Malaysia |
Kayu pahit (Peninsular), kelapahit (Murut, Sabah), manuggal (Iban, Sarawak). |
|
Indonesia |
Gateph pait (Bangka), sahangi (Minahasa) lani (Ambon). |
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Papua New Guinea |
Tosi (Delena, Central Province). |
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Philippines |
Manunggal (Tagalog, Bikol, Bisaya). |
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Vietnam |
S[aa]m d[eef], th[awf]n l[awf]n [aas]n. |
Geographical Distributions
Quassia indica occurs naturally from Madagascar eastward to Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar) and Indo-China, throughout Malaysia (except for Sumatra, Java, Lesser Sunda Islands), and eastward to the Solomon Islands. It is cultivated in Java and also in Malaysia.
Description
Quassia indica is a shrub or tree that can reach up to 20 m tall.
The leaves are simple, elliptical-oblong to lance-shaped, measuring 12-30 cm x 4-12 cm, with prominent veins, and with pitted glands on both surfaces. The petiole is 1-2.5 cm long.
The inflorescence is a terminal or axillary pseudo-umbel. It is 1-30 cm long. The flowers are bisexual with 4-lobed sepal, free petals, accrescent, measuring up to 3 cm x 1 cm and creamy green to violet.
The fruit is an aggregate of the 4 carpels, laterally compressed, with a straight inner and semicircular outer margin and measures 4-9 cm x 2.5-5 cm. The seed is with thin testa, absent endosperm, plano-convex cotyledons and measuring up to 3.5 cm x 2.5 cm.
Ecology / Cultivation
Quassia indica is usually rather rare but locally common in tidal swamp forests or periodically inundated forests. In lowland, mixed dipterocarp forest is usually found below 150 m altitude.
Line Drawing / Photograph
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References
- Plant Resources of South-East Asia No.12(2): Medicinal and poisonous plants 2.
