Tetradium glabrifolium
(Champ. ex Benth.) T. G. Hartley in Gard. Bull. Straits
Settlem. 34: 109. 1981. Boymia glabrifolia Champ. ex Benth. in Hooker's J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 3: 330. 1851. Megabotrya meliaefolia Hance ex Walpers in Ann. Bot. Syst. 2: 259. 1852. Euodia meliaefolia ('Evodia') (Hance ex Walpers) Benth., Fl. Hongkong 58. 1861; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 490. 1875. Euodia glabrifolia (Champ. ex Benth.) Balakr., Fl. Jowail: 115. 1871, syn. nov.
Asm.: Maiphak, Namsingasing, Mukasing.
Trees up to 25 m high; branchlets generally slender, cylindric, glabrous or glabrescent; bark greyish, lenticellate. Leaves 10 - 26 cm long; rachis slender, terete, slightly ridged above, glabrate to pilose; leaflets 6 - 12 pairs (or rarely if 3 then with 7 -13-foliolate leaves on the same branchlets), opposite, subopposite and alternate, ovate, oblong- lanceolate or lanceolate, obtuse or acute at base, often oblique, acuminate at apex, acumen ca 15 mm long, entire or remotely to finely crenate along margins, 3.5 - 15 x (1.2-) 2.5 - 5.5 cm, thin, chartaceous, shiny above, glabrous, pale or glaucous beneath; secondary nerves 6 - 12 pairs, faint, spreading, tertiaries finely reticulate, nervelets conspicuous; petiolules of lateral leaflets 5 - 10 mm long, terminal leaflet on an extension of rachis 20 - 25 mm long. Panicles trichotomous, 10.5 - 17 cm long; peduncle brachiate, branches slender, compressed, pubescent. Flowers predominantly 5-merous or occasionally 4-merous; pedicels slender, 1 - 1.5 mm long, pubescent. Male flowers: Sepals connate, ca 0.5 mm long, ovate-orbicular, obtuse, pubescent abaxially, glabrous adaxially. Petals fleshy, oblong, obtuse, 2.5 - 3.5 mm long, hairy within along midnerve, glabrous abaxially. Stamens 5(4); filaments 1.5 - 2 mm long, subulate, hairy inside; anthers ca 2 mm long, ovoid. Pistillodes 3 to 5,2 - 2.5 mm long, hairy. Disk ca 0.5 mm high, ca 1 mm broad, lobulate, punctate, glabrous. Female flowers: Sepals, petals and disk as in male flowers. Ovary 4 - 5-carpellate, united at base, 4 - 5-lobed, 4 - 4.5 mm across, punctate, glabrous or shortly pubescent, each with 2 collateral ovules; 4 - 5-locular; style short; stigma capitate. Follicles 4 or 5, sparsely to densely adpressed pubescent laterally, connate towards the base abaxially, 1-seeded, endocarp sparsely pubescent; seeds globose, 2 - 4 mm long, 1 - 2 mm across, black, hard, shiny.
Fl. April - July; Fr. Nov.- Jan.
Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, China and Japan.
Distrib. India: Evergreen forests of E. Himalayas and N.E. India, between 600 - 1200 m altitude. Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Bihar and Orissa.
Notes. In Assam, the plant is used for looms. Wood, which is yellowish-white when fresh then turning to reddish-brown, is used for making cigar boxes. Bark contains 'berberine'. An amber coloured exudation in the form of beads is obtained from incisions made in the bark. This exudate has medicinal value.
T. glabrifolium can be easily recognised from rest of the species of Tetradium by its leaflets with densely reticulate ultimate veinlets that are visible on undersurface.
Trees up to 25 m high; branchlets generally slender, cylindric, glabrous or glabrescent; bark greyish, lenticellate. Leaves 10 - 26 cm long; rachis slender, terete, slightly ridged above, glabrate to pilose; leaflets 6 - 12 pairs (or rarely if 3 then with 7 -13-foliolate leaves on the same branchlets), opposite, subopposite and alternate, ovate, oblong- lanceolate or lanceolate, obtuse or acute at base, often oblique, acuminate at apex, acumen ca 15 mm long, entire or remotely to finely crenate along margins, 3.5 - 15 x (1.2-) 2.5 - 5.5 cm, thin, chartaceous, shiny above, glabrous, pale or glaucous beneath; secondary nerves 6 - 12 pairs, faint, spreading, tertiaries finely reticulate, nervelets conspicuous; petiolules of lateral leaflets 5 - 10 mm long, terminal leaflet on an extension of rachis 20 - 25 mm long. Panicles trichotomous, 10.5 - 17 cm long; peduncle brachiate, branches slender, compressed, pubescent. Flowers predominantly 5-merous or occasionally 4-merous; pedicels slender, 1 - 1.5 mm long, pubescent. Male flowers: Sepals connate, ca 0.5 mm long, ovate-orbicular, obtuse, pubescent abaxially, glabrous adaxially. Petals fleshy, oblong, obtuse, 2.5 - 3.5 mm long, hairy within along midnerve, glabrous abaxially. Stamens 5(4); filaments 1.5 - 2 mm long, subulate, hairy inside; anthers ca 2 mm long, ovoid. Pistillodes 3 to 5,2 - 2.5 mm long, hairy. Disk ca 0.5 mm high, ca 1 mm broad, lobulate, punctate, glabrous. Female flowers: Sepals, petals and disk as in male flowers. Ovary 4 - 5-carpellate, united at base, 4 - 5-lobed, 4 - 4.5 mm across, punctate, glabrous or shortly pubescent, each with 2 collateral ovules; 4 - 5-locular; style short; stigma capitate. Follicles 4 or 5, sparsely to densely adpressed pubescent laterally, connate towards the base abaxially, 1-seeded, endocarp sparsely pubescent; seeds globose, 2 - 4 mm long, 1 - 2 mm across, black, hard, shiny.
Fl. April - July; Fr. Nov.- Jan.
Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, China and Japan.
Distrib. India: Evergreen forests of E. Himalayas and N.E. India, between 600 - 1200 m altitude. Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Bihar and Orissa.
Notes. In Assam, the plant is used for looms. Wood, which is yellowish-white when fresh then turning to reddish-brown, is used for making cigar boxes. Bark contains 'berberine'. An amber coloured exudation in the form of beads is obtained from incisions made in the bark. This exudate has medicinal value.
T. glabrifolium can be easily recognised from rest of the species of Tetradium by its leaflets with densely reticulate ultimate veinlets that are visible on undersurface.
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