Acronychia pedunculata
(L.) Miq., Fl. Ind. Bat. Suppl. 532. 1861. Jambolifera pedunculata L., Sp. Pl. 1: 349. 1753. Clausena simplicifolia Dalz. in Hooker's J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 3: 180. 1851. Acronychia laurifolia Blume, Cat. Gen. Buitnez. 63. 1823; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 498. 1875. A. barberi Gamble in Bull. Misc. Inform. 1915: 345. 1915.
Asm.: Loajan; Kan.: Sonemau; Mal.: Vidu Kaneli; Or.: Madhugodiyamado; Tam.: Muttanari.
Trees or shrubs, 5 - 15 m high, evergreen; branchlets woody, cylindric to subquadrangular with slightly flattened internodes, glabrous or with white, silvery pubescence hairs; bark grey, glossy, smooth or lenticellate. Leaves unifoliolate, opposite, 6.5 - 21 mm long; petioles (0.5-) 1 - 3 cm long, horizontally grooved above, swollen at both ends, glabrous or shortly pubescent; leaflet blades mostly elliptic or oblong or elliptic-oblong, grading to subobovate, acute to cuneate at base, acute or obtue or obtusely acuminate at apex, entire along margins, (4.5-) 6 - 19 x (2-) 3 - 7.5 (-9) cm, glossy, chartaceous to coriaceous, glabrous; midnerve prominent on both sides; secondary nerves 12 to 15 (20) pairs, slender, prominent, spreading, anastamosing to fine reticulation. Inflorescences axillary, paniculate, corymbose cymes, 5 - 18 cm long; peduncle terete or slightly, compressed, glabrous to finely pubescent; axes opposite. Flowers bisexual, 5 - 10 mm long, 8 - 12 mm across; bract and bracteoles minute, lanceolate, alabrate; pedicels slender, 5 - 10 mm long, glabrescent. Sepals 4, connate below, imbricate, persistent, suborbicular, obtuse, ca 1 mm long, ca 1.5 mm broad, pubescent. Petals 4, valvate, linear-oblong from a broader base, obtuse at apex, concave, 4 - 9 x 1.5 mm, glabrous abaxially, vinous adaxially along midnerve, cream-yellowish. Stamens 8, inserted at base of disk; filaments 4 - 8 mm long, subulate, villous towards base on inner face; anthers basifixed, ovoid or ellipsoid, ca 1 mm long. Disk 8-angled, 1 - 2 mm high, 2 - 3 mm broad, pubescent or villous. Ovary 3 - 4 mm high, ca 1.5 mm broad, glabrous to tomentose, 4-lobed, 4-locular, each with 2 superposed ovules; style ca 2 mm long, hairy at base, alabrous above, filiform; stigma capitate, 4-lobed. Drupe subglobose or ovoid or ellipsoid, septicidal fissures apical or 0, apiculate or rarely grooved at apex, 1 - 1.5 cm long, ca 1.2 cm across, glabrate to finely adpressedly pubescent, green when ripe, dark-brownish turning to black on drying; seeds 2 to 4, ovoid, green.
Fl. Feb.- May; Fr. June - Dec.
Distrib. India: Evergreen or semievergreen forests at altitudes ranging from sea level to 2065 m. Uttar Pradesh, W. Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura, Orissa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Bhutan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, N. Vietnam, S. Vietnam, China, Sumatra, Malay peninsula, Borneo, Philippines, Celebes and Papua.
Notes. The stem bark and wood are used for treatment of sores and ulcers. Root is used as a fish poison in Cochin-china. Leaves yield an aromatic essential oil. Stem bark is used as a tonic especially in scabies. Tender leaves are used as a condiment. Wood is used for poles and house constructions. It also gives good charcoal, preferred by goldsmiths. Fruits are edible.
When Linnaeus (1753) published jambolifera pedunculata, he did not provide a phrase name but cited two synonyms: 'Jambolifera from Flora Zeylanica (Linnaeus, 1747), and 'Jambolens' from C. Bauhin (1623), followed by the statement 'Habitat in India'.
There are no specimens or illustrations associated with the Bauhin name. However, Trimen (in J. Linn. Soc. Bot. 24: 129 - 155. 1888) listed three specimens in Hermann's herbarium (BM) seen by Linnaeus and annotated by him as jambolifera pedunculata. Trimen referred them to Acronychia laurifolia Blume (= A. pedunculata (L.) Miq.). There are three fertile specimens (with flowers), vol. 2. fol. 82 (upper left) and vol. 2. fol. 38 (lower left and upper right). These appeared as the only original material for the name jambolifera pedunculala, of which the upper left flowering specimen in Herb. Hermann, vol. 2: 82, No. 139 (BM) was designated as the lectotype for jambolifera pedunculata Nair, K.N. (1993: 58), In: Jarvis, C.E. et al. (eds.). A list of Linnaean generic names and their types. IAPT, Koeltz. Germany).
Trees or shrubs, 5 - 15 m high, evergreen; branchlets woody, cylindric to subquadrangular with slightly flattened internodes, glabrous or with white, silvery pubescence hairs; bark grey, glossy, smooth or lenticellate. Leaves unifoliolate, opposite, 6.5 - 21 mm long; petioles (0.5-) 1 - 3 cm long, horizontally grooved above, swollen at both ends, glabrous or shortly pubescent; leaflet blades mostly elliptic or oblong or elliptic-oblong, grading to subobovate, acute to cuneate at base, acute or obtue or obtusely acuminate at apex, entire along margins, (4.5-) 6 - 19 x (2-) 3 - 7.5 (-9) cm, glossy, chartaceous to coriaceous, glabrous; midnerve prominent on both sides; secondary nerves 12 to 15 (20) pairs, slender, prominent, spreading, anastamosing to fine reticulation. Inflorescences axillary, paniculate, corymbose cymes, 5 - 18 cm long; peduncle terete or slightly, compressed, glabrous to finely pubescent; axes opposite. Flowers bisexual, 5 - 10 mm long, 8 - 12 mm across; bract and bracteoles minute, lanceolate, alabrate; pedicels slender, 5 - 10 mm long, glabrescent. Sepals 4, connate below, imbricate, persistent, suborbicular, obtuse, ca 1 mm long, ca 1.5 mm broad, pubescent. Petals 4, valvate, linear-oblong from a broader base, obtuse at apex, concave, 4 - 9 x 1.5 mm, glabrous abaxially, vinous adaxially along midnerve, cream-yellowish. Stamens 8, inserted at base of disk; filaments 4 - 8 mm long, subulate, villous towards base on inner face; anthers basifixed, ovoid or ellipsoid, ca 1 mm long. Disk 8-angled, 1 - 2 mm high, 2 - 3 mm broad, pubescent or villous. Ovary 3 - 4 mm high, ca 1.5 mm broad, glabrous to tomentose, 4-lobed, 4-locular, each with 2 superposed ovules; style ca 2 mm long, hairy at base, alabrous above, filiform; stigma capitate, 4-lobed. Drupe subglobose or ovoid or ellipsoid, septicidal fissures apical or 0, apiculate or rarely grooved at apex, 1 - 1.5 cm long, ca 1.2 cm across, glabrate to finely adpressedly pubescent, green when ripe, dark-brownish turning to black on drying; seeds 2 to 4, ovoid, green.
Fl. Feb.- May; Fr. June - Dec.
Distrib. India: Evergreen or semievergreen forests at altitudes ranging from sea level to 2065 m. Uttar Pradesh, W. Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura, Orissa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Bhutan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, N. Vietnam, S. Vietnam, China, Sumatra, Malay peninsula, Borneo, Philippines, Celebes and Papua.
Notes. The stem bark and wood are used for treatment of sores and ulcers. Root is used as a fish poison in Cochin-china. Leaves yield an aromatic essential oil. Stem bark is used as a tonic especially in scabies. Tender leaves are used as a condiment. Wood is used for poles and house constructions. It also gives good charcoal, preferred by goldsmiths. Fruits are edible.
When Linnaeus (1753) published jambolifera pedunculata, he did not provide a phrase name but cited two synonyms: 'Jambolifera from Flora Zeylanica (Linnaeus, 1747), and 'Jambolens' from C. Bauhin (1623), followed by the statement 'Habitat in India'.
There are no specimens or illustrations associated with the Bauhin name. However, Trimen (in J. Linn. Soc. Bot. 24: 129 - 155. 1888) listed three specimens in Hermann's herbarium (BM) seen by Linnaeus and annotated by him as jambolifera pedunculata. Trimen referred them to Acronychia laurifolia Blume (= A. pedunculata (L.) Miq.). There are three fertile specimens (with flowers), vol. 2. fol. 82 (upper left) and vol. 2. fol. 38 (lower left and upper right). These appeared as the only original material for the name jambolifera pedunculala, of which the upper left flowering specimen in Herb. Hermann, vol. 2: 82, No. 139 (BM) was designated as the lectotype for jambolifera pedunculata Nair, K.N. (1993: 58), In: Jarvis, C.E. et al. (eds.). A list of Linnaean generic names and their types. IAPT, Koeltz. Germany).
