Volume 9 > Part 1 > Year 2005 > Page 33 > Datiscaceae > Tetrameles

Tetrameles nudiflora R.Br.wfo-0001253316

in Benn., Pl. Jav. Rar.: 79.t. 17. 1844; Kurz, Forest Fl. Burma 1: 534. 1877: C.B.Clarke in Hook.f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 2: 657. 1879; Gagnep. in Lecomte, Fl. Indo Chine 2: 1121. 1921: Ridl., Fl. Malay Penins. 1: 864. 1922; Craib in Fl. Siam. Enum. 1: 781. 1931; van Steenis, Fl. Males. I. 4: 385. 1953; Whitmore in Tree Fl. Malaya 2: 29. 1973. Fig. 1.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Large-sized tree, up to 45 m high, 400 cm girth; buttresses up to 5 m high from ground; bark silvery grey to silvery greyish-brown, smooth, hooped. Inner bark ochre, soft, thick, finely fibrous. Wood soft, ochre. Twigs stout, with large, prominent leaf scars. Leaves heart shaped, sometimes slightly pentangular in outline, 9–15 by 9–12 cm; apex acute to rounded; base cordate; margins serrate or doubly serrate; chartaceous, upper surface sparsely hairy, densely so on lower surface; main nerves 5(–7) at base, scalariform veins conspicuous on lower surface. Petioles 5–10 cm long, with 8–12 scattered warty glands, hairy. Inflorescences 15–30 cm long. Flowers 4-merous, very small. Male flower: pedicels subsessile, ca 1 mm long; calyx deeply 4-lobed, sometimes with additional lobes; tube short; lobes oblong, 1.5–2 mm long; stamens 4, 1–3.5 mm long. Female flower sessile, 3.5–5 mm long; calyx tube fusiform, with peltate glands; calyx-teeth 4, short, triangular; styles 4(–5), 1–2.5 mm long; stigma large, about half as long as the styles. Capsule globular-urceolate, 4–5 mm in diam., prominently 8–10 nerves. Seeds ca 1 mm long.

Thailand : Throughout the country.

Distribution : India, Burma, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia , Malesia (type from Indonesia), Australia.

Ecology : A pioneer species, common in open areas by streams in mixed deciduous and evergreen forests, 50–300 m alt. Flowering: December–February; fruiting: February, March.

Vernacular : Somphong (สมพง), kaphong (กะพง), phong (พง)(Central, Peninsular); ngun (งุ้น), saphung (สะพุง)(Northeastern); man chang (มันช้าง)(Trang).

Uses: Wood light brown to greyish-brown, rather soft, is used for temporary construction, wooden boxes, matches, canoes, pulp, paper, plywood and toys.