2183

8: Vegetables

Melientha suavis Pierre

Bull. Soc. Linn. Paris 1: 763 (1888).

OPILIACEAE

2n = unknown

Melientha acuminata Merrill (1926).

Melientha (En). Malaysia: tangal (Sabah). Philippines: malatado (Mindanao). Cambodia: daam prec. Laos: hvaan. Thailand: phakwan-pa. Vietnam: rau s[aws]ng, rau ng[os]t r[uwf]ng.

Melientha suavis is native to Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Sabah and the Philippines. Throughout this area it occurs wild and occasionally in cultivation. The species is rare in Malaysia and the Philippines.

The young shoots, leaves, inflorescences and young fruits are widely consumed as a vegetable after boiling. The ripe fruits are also edible (juicy mesocarp) and in Vietnam the seeds are eaten in the same way as groundnut after boiling or frying. The wood is often used for charcoal in Thailand.

Melientha suavis is used and marketed locally. Cultivation on a commercial scale is known from northern Thailand, where intercropping in fruit orchards is practised. For this purpose, seedlings can be obtained from commercial nurseries in the area.

Melientha suavis is a good source of protein and vitamin C. Fresh shoots and leaves contain per 100 g edible portion: water 76.6 g, protein 8.2 g, carbohydrates 10.0 g, fibre 3.4 g, ash 1.8 g, carotene 1.6 mg, vitamin C 115 mg. The energy value is about 300 kJ/100 g.

Small evergreen dioecious tree up to 13 m tall with usually cylindrical crown and glabrous, drooping branchlets. Leaves simple, alternate, glabrous, coriaceous-fleshy; petiole up to 5 mm long; leaf-blade lanceolate, elliptical to ovate or obovate, (4—)6—12(—16) cm x 2.5—5(—7) cm, apex obtuse- or retuse-mucronulate, sometimes acute to acuminate, base cuneate-attenuate; nerves 5—6(—8) pairs. Inflorescence panicle-like, irregularly branched, mostly in groups on swellings at the main trunk but also on branches and even in the axils of the uppermost leaves; main rachis up to 15 cm, in fruiting state up to 20 cm long; flowers unisexual, 4- or 5-merous. Male flowers sessile, solitary or in groups of 3—5 (mainly at the end of the rachises) in the axil of a minute bract; tepals reflexed; filaments very short, attached to the base of the tepals; anthers relatively large; disk lobes fleshy, as large as the rudimentary ovary. Female flowers solitary per bract, sometimes in groups of 3—4; pedicel 3—7 mm long; tepals adjacent to the ovary; the small staminodes alternating with broad disk lobes. Fruit a drupe, ellipsoid to slightly ovoid or obovoid, 2.3—4 cm x 1.5—2 cm, yellow; pericarp thin, 1.5—2 mm thick, with fleshy-juicy mesocarp and woody endocarp. Seed single, embryo with 3—4 linear cotyledons embedded in oily endosperm.
The genus Melientha Pierre is monotypic. Two subspecies are distinguished, differing by the form and the size of the fruits: ellipsoid, 2.3—3 cm long in ssp. suavis; obovoid, 3.5—4 cm long in ssp. macrocarpa Hiepko. The latter has only been observed in Sabah (Mt. Kinabalu).
The flowers are strongly fragrant. Without flowers or fruits, Melientha suavis is difficult to identify and consequently leaves of vegetatively similar species of Opiliaceae are sometimes eaten as a vegetable. If leaves of Urobotrya siamensis Hiepko, a species widespread in the same habitat as Melientha suavis in Thailand and Indo-China, are eaten, these may cause death by poisoning (its fruits are bright red and up to 1 cm long).

Melientha suavis occurs naturally in deciduous forest, rarely in dry evergreen forest (valleys, borders of streams), at altitudes of 300—900(—1500) m. In Vietnam it is common on limestone soils, in Sabah on black rocky soils. Flowering is from December to March and fruiting from April to August. Pollination is by insects. Natural dispersal takes place by birds, water and wild animals.

Propagation is by seed. Young shoots, leaves and inflorescences are usually collected from wild trees. Cutting off old branches will encourage the development of lateral shoots and new leaves. There is no information on diseases or pests. After harvesting, shoots or leaves are tied into bundles, which may be wrapped in a banana leaf to avoid wilting. They should be consumed within one or two days after harvesting. Yield data are not known.

Only natural stands are available for selection work as no germplasm collections exist.

Nutritionally Melientha suavis is an excellent vegetable. It deserves to be studied in more detail to determine its potential for wider use and cultivation in agroforestry systems.

Gagnepain, F., 1911. Opiliaceae. Melientha. In: Gagnepain, F. (Editor): Flore Générale de l'Indo-Chine [General flora of Indo-China]. Vol. 1. Masson, Paris, France. pp. 802-803.
Hiepko, P., 1979. A revision of Opiliaceae 1. Genera of the eastern Old World, excluding Opilia. Willdenowia 9: 13-56.
Hiepko, P., 1984. Opiliaceae. Melientha. In: van Steenis, C.G.G.J. et al. (Editors), 1950- . Flora Malesiana. Series 1. Vol. 10. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, the Netherlands. pp. 38-40.
Pierre, L., 1892. Flore forestière de la Cochinchine [Forest flora of Cochinchina]. Fasc. 17. Paris, France. Fig. 264.

Nguyen Tien Hiep

Nguyen Tien Hiep, 1993. Melientha suavis Pierre. In: Siemonsma, J.S and Piluek, K (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 8: Vegetables. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea