Volume 14 > Part 2 > Year 2019 > Page 246 > Araliaceae > Trevesia

3. Trevesia palmata (Roxb. ex Lindl.) Vis.wfo-0000327016

Mem. Reale Accad. Sci. Torin. Ser. 2, 4: 262. 1842; Seem., J. Bot. 4: 353. 1866; Kurz, Forest Fl. Burma 1: 539. 1877; C.B.Clarke in Hook.f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 2: 732. 1879, pro parte excl. var. cheirantha & var. insignis; R.Vig. in Lecomte, Fl. Indo-Chine 2(9): 1180, fig. 140. 1923; H.L.Li, Sargentia 2: 13. 1942; G.Hoo & C.J.Tseng, Fl. Reipubl. Popul. Sin. 54: 10. 1978; K.M.Feng & Y.R.Li, Fl. Yunnan. 2: 417, t. 125 fig. 5–9. 1979; P.H.Hô, Câyco Viêtnam 2: 629. 1993; Jebb, Glasra n.s. 3: 98. 1999 (‘1998’); S.Gardner et al., Field Guide Forest Trees N. Thailand: 212, fig. 460. 2000; Frodin in Frodin & Govaerts, World Checkl. Bibliogr. Araliac.: 413. 2004 (‘2003’); C.B.Shang & Lowry, Fl. China 13: 438. 2007; S.Gardner et al., Forest Trees S. Thailand 1: 239, fig. 342. 2015.— Gastonia palmata Roxb., Hort. Beng.: 33. 1814, nom. nud., ex Lindl., Bot. Reg:. T. 894. 1825; Roxb., Fl. Ind. Ed. 1832, 2: 407. 1832.— Gilibertia palmata (Roxb. ex Lindl.) DC., Prodr. 4: 256. 1830. Plate XX: C.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Treelets or trees to 10 m tall, dbh 15 cm; bark thin, sparsely thorned, grey; branches with a sparse to dense indumentum of reddish-brown hairs. Leaves: stipular ligule to 2 cm long; petiole 30–90 cm long, spiny throughout or only near base; blade chartaceous, 30–90 cm across, with 5–9 lobes, base cordate, the lobes to ca 30 by 20 cm on herbarium specimens (larger in nature), lanceolate to elliptic, less than 3 times as long as broad, apex acuminate, undivided or variously pinnatifid or/and constricted to their midveins (pseudo-compound, ‘webbed’5), densely pubescent at least on midvein and sideveins beneath. Inflorescences to 60 cm long, the side branches usually bearing a terminal umbel and a pair of sub-opposite umbels at their mid-point, their subtending bracts to 3 cm long, densely pubescent, shortly persistent; umbels 60–100 mm in diam., with 25–50 flowers; floral bracts to 10 mm long. Flowers: pedicel 20–40 mm long; calyx lobes 8–10(–12), to 1 mm long; petals 8–10(–12), 5–8 by 2–2.5 mm, partly united but never completely calyptrate, opening at anthesis; stamens 8–10, anthers 2 mm long, filaments 4–6 mm long; ovary 8–10(–12) locules, stylopodium 2–4 mm long. Fruits rounded, to 2.3 cm across.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phayao, Nan, Lampang, Uttaradit, Tak, Sukhothai, Phitsanulok, Kamphaeng Phet; NORTH-EASTERN: Loei, Nong Khai, Khon Kaen; SOUTH-WESTERN: Uthai Thani, Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan; EASTERN: Chaiyaphum; SOUTH-EASTERN: Sa Kaeo, Chon Buri, Chanthaburi; often cultivated, e.g. in Bangkok.

Distribution : India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh (type), Myanmar, China, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia.

Ecology : In primary and disturbed evergreen seasonal hardwood forests, mixed deciduous bamboo forests, dry evergreen dipterocarp forests, deciduous dipterocarp-oak forests, over granite or limestone, 200–1,500 m alt.Flowering: December–March; fruiting: February–June.

Vernacular : Patapatui (ปะ-ตา-ปะ-ตุย)(Akha-Chiang Rai); tang pa (ต้างป่า), malakao pa (มะละเกาป่า)(Chanthaburi); tang (ต้าง), tang luang (ต้างหลวง)(Northern).

Uses: Several parts of the plant are edible, fruits when boiled. Grinded root, bark and wood are used orally in several local medicines. The whole plant is boiled and the liquid drunk as a diuretic and laxative. The pith of the bark is used as cork for bottles. Cultivated as ornamental in Thailand and in greenhouses in many countries because of the beautifulfoliage; flowers are used for ceremonies.

Notes: The species has been confused with Trevesia burckii in the past. Both species obviously do not overlap in their distribution. It is apparent from field observations that the diversity of form exhibited by T. palmata is great, and individuals are morphologically plastic. Constricted leaf lobes with pseudo-petiolules (“webbed leaves”) are a constant feature of adult specimens of T. burckii, but a variable feature of T. palmata. Trevesia burckii on the other hand never exhibits further dissection of the leaflets, which are only serrated but not pinnatifid. The inflorescence of T. burckii is more reduced than that of T. palmata, in which subsidiary umbels are more usual on side branches of the inflorescence. The petals of T. palmata are not united into a calyptra, but instead are partially united, opening in singletons or pairs.