Volume 8 > Part 2 > Year 2007 > Page 433 > Euphorbiaceae > Mallotus

37. Mallotus tetracoccus (Roxb.) Kurzwfo-0000234763

J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 62: 245. 1873; Alston in Trimen, Handb. Fl. Ceylon 6: 267. 1931; Croizat, J. Amold Arbor. 21: 503. 1940; Philcox in Dassan., Revis Handb. Fl. Ceylon 11: 153. 1997.— Rottlera tetracocca Roxb. (Hort. Beng.: 73. 1814, nomen nudum] Fl. Ind. 3: 826. 1832.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Shrub to treelet, up to 20 m high, dbh up to 30 cm. Outer bark pale creamy brown to orangish-brown, smooth with scattered lenticels and very shallow vertical fissures, ca 0.5 mm thick; inner bark 3–5 mm thick, dirty white, outside green. Indumentum tomentose, shorter stellate hairs yellowish, larger ones (partly) brownish, glandular scales orange. Stipules triangular, ca 1.5 by 0.8–1 mm, early caducous. Leaves alternate to usually opposite beneath inflorescences; petiole 4.7–8 cm long, often grooved when dry; blades triangular to ovate, 8–25.5 by 10–19.5 cm, length/width ratio 0.9–1.3, drying (light or greenish-) brown, base emarginate to rounded, not to 8 mm peltate, margin laxly serrulate to serrate above largest width, apex acuminate to cuspidate, upper surface dark green, basally hairy on major nerves, extrafloral nectaries seldom absent, usually several near insertion, elliptic, 1.2–2 by 0.7–1 mm, sometimes confluent, often several further away on basal nerve, often few to many submarginally in upper half, lower surface greenish-white to rusty brown, densely tomentose, epidermis not visible, glandular scales usually visible, domatia absent, venation palmate, 7–9 nerves along midrib on each side. Inflorescences terminal panicles, very sturdy, branches more than 1 mm thick, up to 35 cm long; bracts triangular, thick, in staminate inflorescences 0.8–1.6 by 0.8–1.3 mm, in pistillate ones ca 1.5 by 2.5 mm; bracteoles absent. Staminate flowers 3.5–5 mm in diam., dull yellowish (-green); buds brown; pedicel 1.8–5 mm long, yellowish-green; sepals (2–)4–5(6), ovate to elliptic, 2.7–3.5 by 0.8–2 mm, reflexed; stamens 45–65; filaments 2–2.6 mm long, pale green; anthers ca 0.3 by 0.7 mm, yellow. Pistillate flowers 3.5–4.7 mm in diam., subsessile, sweet-scented; calyx 3- or 4-partite, urceolate, 3–4 mm high; ovary (3)4(5)-locular, 1.5–2 by 2–2.5 mm, covered with soft spines, style ca 0.5 mm long; stigmas recurved, 1.5–2.2 mm long, with long lemon-yellow papillae above. Fruits lobed rhegmas, 12–14 mm by 8–10 mm, white when young, later yellowish-brown, covered with ca 100 stout, up to 3 mm long, tomentose spines; wall thin. Seed subobovoid, ca 6 by 4–5 by 4–4.2 mm, blackish, warty, without aril.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Rai (Phayapri village [Akha tribe]).

Distribution : Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, China (Yunnan). Probably also present in Burma.

Ecology : Pioneer species found in disturbed evergreen forests, sometimes mixed with deciduous elements, along roadsides, in thickets in cultivated areas, garden boundaries and secondary forests, bedrock granite, 0–1,600 m alt.

Notes: See also note under Mallotus metcalfianus. Mallotus barbatus, M. metcalfianus, M. paniculatus, and M. tetracoccus can easily be confused. They are easiest to recognise when in fruit. (Relatively) few and short stout spines are found in M. paniculatus and M. tetracoccus; M. tetracoccus has more spines (ca. 100), and more sturdy inflorescences (branches more than 1 mm thick, less so in M. paniculatus). Many long and slender spines are found in M. barbatus, M. metcalfianus, and M. macrostachyus. Of these three M. metcalfianus has the lowest number of spines, they are individually visible, the latter is not the case in the other two species. The leaves of M. metcalfianus are also more densely hairy (epidermis not visible) and domatia are lacking. Mallotus barbatus has distinctly peltate leaves with no domatia, while in M. macrostachyus the leaves are subpeltate and possess domatia.