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12(2): Medicinal and poisonous plants 2

Barringtonia macrocarpa Hassk.

This article should be read together with the article on the genus: Barringtonia in the Handbook volume indicated above in this database.

Flora 25, 2 (Beibl.): 36 (1842).

Barringtonia insignis Miq. (1855), Barringtonia serrata Miq. (1855), Barringtonia comosa Gagnep. (1914).

Indonesia: songgom (Javanese, Sundanese), bulat, potet (Kalimantan). Thailand: chik nom yan. Vietnam: l[ooj]c v[uwf]ng qu[ar] to.

From Indo-China, southern Thailand, southern Burma (Myanmar) to Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java and Borneo.

In Java and Borneo, the pounded roots or root bark are used as a fish poison. In Java, the young shoots are eaten raw as a salad.

A shrub or small tree, 1.5—6(—13) m tall, trunk 5—16 cm in diameter, twigs (5—)7—15 mm in diameter; leaves obovate-lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 30—60(—70) cm x 6—18 cm, base narrowly cuneate, apex cuspidate or obtuse, serrate-crenulate, glabrous, petiole 0.5—1(—2) cm long; raceme terminal, pendulous, (26—)40—75(—112) cm long, up to 135-flowered, flowers not scented, pedicel 0.5—1.5 cm long, opening buds 0.5—0.7 cm long, calyx tube about 0.5—2 mm long, not accrescent, sepals 3—4, free, accrescent, purple or pink, petals 3—4, elliptical, convex, 2—3 cm x 1—1.5 cm, white, or pale pink, stamens in 3—4 whorls, 3—4 cm long, pink, ovary 3—4-celled, style 3.5—4.2 cm long; berry (immature) obovate to oblong, 6.5 cm x 2.5 cm, 3—4-gonous to 3—4-winged, pericarp about 2.5 mm thick, exocarp thin, mesocarp about 1 mm thick, fibrous, endocarp about 1 mm thick, fibrous; seed ovoid, 3.5 cm x 0.75 cm, fissured. Barringtonia macrocarpa occurs along rivers, in swampy forest and periodically inundated areas from sea-level up to 300 m altitude.

[164] Chantaranothai, P., 1995. Barringtonia (Lecythidiaceae) in Thailand. Kew Bulletin 50(4): 677—694.
[407] Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
[747] Ochse, J.J. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1980. Vegetables of the Dutch East Indies. 3rd English edition (translation of "Indische groenten"", 1931). Asher & Co., Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 1016 pp.

M.A. Yaplito

Yaplito, M.A., 2001. Barringtonia macrocarpa Hassk.. In: van Valkenburg, J.L.C.H. and Bunyapraphatsara, N. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 12(2): Medicinal and poisonous plants 2. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea