Volume 7 > Part 1 > Year 1999 > Page 218 > Sapindaceae > Lepisanthes

5. Lepisanthes tetraphylla (Vahl) Radlk.wfo-0000446270

Sitzungsber. Math. Phys. Cl. Königl. Bayer. Akad. Wiss. München 8: 276. 1878; in Engl., Pflanzenr. 98: 743, f. 15. 1932; Leenh., Blumea 17: 39, 63. 1969 (see also for complete synonymy); Yap in Tree Fl. Mal. 4: 447. 1989; Leenh. in Fl. Males., Ser. 1, Spermat. 11: 630, fig. 52h. 1994.— Sapindus tetraphyllaFig. 18e.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Shrubs or small trees (to trees up to 22.5 m high); bark (greyish) brown, usually smooth to lenticellate. Leaves paripinnate, up to (1–)2–10-jugate. Leaflets mainly elliptic, 5–55 by 2–20 cm, mainly chartaceous; base (subcordate to) rounded to acute; apex (emarginate to) obtuse to acuminate; glabrous to hairy on both sides. Inflorescences up to 70 cm long, sparsely to densely brown pilose when dry. Flowers sweetly scented, white to light yellow. Sepals 5, ovate to obovate, 1.2–7 by 1.2–6 mm. Petals 5, ovate to elliptic to oblong, 2.2–10 by 1.2–4 mm, claw 0.5–2(–4) mm long; scales 2, in Thailand well-developed, seldom crested. Disc flat. Stamens mostly 8; filaments 1.5–6.5 mm long; anthers 0.8–2.5 mm long. Ovary 3-locular (Thailand). Fruits yellowish, greyish or greyish pink, sessile, 1.5–5 cm in diam., not lobed, not wrinkled when dry, densely short pilose outside when young, pilose to glabrous within. Seeds shiny brown to black; hilum small.

Distribution : S & SE Asia, from Sri Lanka and the Deccan Peninsula (type) to China (Hainan), Indochina, Thailand and Malesia up to New Guinea.

Ecology : Understorey of primary and secondary forests, along forests edges, river banks, and in more open country, on dry or swampy to periodically inundated places or even in streams, on a variety of soils, sea level up to 1,200 m alt. Flowering: the whole year through (Thailand mainly November–June; fruiting: November–July (Thailand mainly April–November?).

Uses: The wood of some forms is heavy, hard and close-grained, which makes it suitable for furniture.

Notes: Only the names of the informal groups as recognised for Thailand by Leenhouts (1969) have been provided. The Thai specimens of Lepisanthes tetraphylla may be subdivided into 2 more or less distinct informal groups, which are keyed out as follows: