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11: Auxiliary plants

Paraserianthes lophantha (Willd.) Nielsen

LEGUMINOSAE - MIMOSOIDEAE

Acacia montana Jungh., Albizia montana (Jungh.) Benth.

Indonesia: kemlandingan gunung, mlandingan gunung (Javanese), ki haruman (Sundanese).

Paraserianthes lophantha has a disjunct distribution: subsp. lophantha occurs in south-western Australia and subsp. montana (Jungh.) Nielsen in Indonesia (Sumatra, Java, Bali and Flores). It is occasionally cultivated also elsewhere.

It is occasionally planted as a shade tree or for soil improvement in agriculture and forestry. The wood has been used for curing tobacco, but it is of poor fuel quality. In Java the seed may be used as a vegetable as a substitute for petai (Parkia speciosa Hassk.) or as a flavouring to replace jengkol (Archidendron jiringa (Jack) I.C. Nielsen). In South Africa Paraserianthes lophantha subsp. lophantha has become an invasive weed after introduction.

Shrub or tree, up to 10 m tall and 30 cm in diameter. Leaves bipinnately compound; petiole 2.2—6 cm long; rachis 11—25 cm long; pinnae (6—)9—13 pairs, to 12 cm long; leaflets (13—)15—34 pairs per pinna, oblong, 5—11 mm x 1.5—3.5 mm, base very asymmetrically truncate-rounded. Inflorescence a solitary or compound spike in a distal leaf axil; spike 5.2—11(—18) cm long; calyx and corolla green. Pod thinly chartaceous, oblongoid, stalked, 5.5—9.5(—1) cm x 1.4—2.6 cm, apiculate at the apex. Seed compressed ellipsoid, 6 mm x 4 mm x 2 mm, black. Paraserianthes lophantha subsp. montana occurs in light montane forest, elfin forest, grass plains, often on crater slopes and in stony, open sites at (600—)1500—3250 m altitude. Trees start flowering and fruiting when 5—6 years old. Seeds germinate easily after fire or acid treatment.

[27]Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2nd Edition. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.
[51]Flora Malesiana (various editors), 1950–. Series 1. Volume 1, 4–. Kluwer, Dordrecht & Flora Malesiana Foundation, Leiden, the Netherlands.
[70]Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, the Hague, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 261, 1450 pp.

M.S.M. Sosef & L.J.G. van der Maesen

Sosef, M.S.M. & van der Maesen, L.J.G., 1997. Paraserianthes lophantha (Willd.) Nielsen. In: Faridah Hanum, I & van der Maesen, L.J.G. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 11: Auxiliary plants. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea