Flora of Thailand

Euphorbiaceae

 

18. Chaetocarpus

 

P.C. van Welzen

 

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Genus description

Species description

 

Chaetocarpus

 

Thwaites, Hooker's J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 6: 300. 1854; Baill., Ιtude Euphorb.: 323. 1858; Mόll.Arg. in DC., Prod. 15.2: 1121. 1866; Pax & K.Hoffm. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV.147.iv: 7. 1912; Airy Shaw, Kew Bull. 26: 231. 1972; Whitmore, Tree Fl. Malaya 2: 76. 1973; G.L.Webster, Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 81: 65. 1994; Welzen, Rheedea 4: 94. 1994; Thai For. Bull. 28: 56, Fig. 3. 2000; Radcl.-Sm., Gen. Euphorbiacearum: 116. 2001; Welzen in Chayam. & Welzen, Fl. Thailand 8, 1: 152. 2005; G.L.Webster in Kubitzki, Fam. Gen. Vasc. Pl. 11: 103, fig. 21. 2014.— Regnaldia Baill., Adansonia 1 (1860) 187.

 

Trees or shrubs, dioecious. Indumentum of simple hairs, glabrescent. Stipules very asymmetric, obovate, early caducous. Leaves simple, distichous, blade (a)symmetric, coriaceous, punctate; base broadly attenuate; margin entire; apex acuminate; both surfaces without glands, (sub)glabrous; venation pinnate, looped and closed at the margin, indistinctly reticulate. Inflorescences dense axillary clusters of flowers. Flowers actinomorphic; sepals 4, imbricate, outer 2 different from inner 2; petals absent (to a single, clawed one); disc annular, toothed, teeth in pistillate flowers more numerous and narrower. Staminate flowers: stamens 8 (Thailand), united in an androphore from which the filaments branch alternately. Pistillate flowers: pistil 3- (or 4)-locular; ovules one per locule. Fruits rhegmas, subglobose, densely echinate with glochidiate hairs outside, glabrous inside. Seeds ovoid, covered in upper third by a thin aril.

    Pantropical, 10 or 11 species, one in Thailand. Classification: Subfam. Acalyphoideae, tribe Chaetocarpeae.

 

Chaetocarpus castanocarpus (Roxb.) Thwaites, En. Pl. Zeyl.: 275. 1861; Mόll.Arg. in DC., Prod. 15, 2: 1122. 1866; Pax & K.Hoffm. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV.147.iv: 8. 1912; Gagnep. in Lecomte, Fl. Indo-Chine 5: 471, fig. 59: 12-16. 1826; Airy Shaw, Kew Bull. 26: 231. 1972; Whitmore, Tree Fl. Malaya 2: 76. 1973; Welzen, Rheedea 4: 98. 1994; Welzen in Chayam. & Welzen, Fl. Thailand 8, 1: 153, fig. 33, plate VIII: 1.1, 1.2. 2005 Adelia castanicarpa Roxb., Fl. Ind. 3848. 1832 Gaedawakka castanocarpa (Roxb.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 2: 606. 1891, nom. superfl.

 

                Chaecast-habit.gif (44990 bytes)    Chaecast-male.gif (46244 bytes)    Chaecast-female.gif (162817 bytes)    Chaecast-fruit.gif (29040 bytes)

 

(Shrubs to) trees up to 45 m high. Stipules 3—6.5 by 0.6—2.2 mm. Leaves: petiole 3—17 mm long; blade ovate (to elliptic), 3.5—18.5 by 1.5—8 cm, length/width ratio 1.8—3.5, nerves 7—9 per side. Inflorescences densely hirsute. Flowers greenish yellow to white-yellow to yellow, slightly fragrant, sweet; pedicels 3.3—5 mm long, woolly; sepals ovate to rounded, 1.5—3 by 1.5—3.3 mm; disc pink to red. Staminate flowers 2.2—3.7 mm in diameter; stamens: androphore 2.8—5 mm long, hairy, white; filaments 0.4—1 mm long; anthers 0.5—1.2 by 0.4—0.6 mm, yellow. Pistillate flowers up to 7.5 mm in diameter; ovary ovoid, 1—1.3 mm high; styles 3, 0.3—1.2 mm long; stigma lobes 1—2 mm long. Fruit 8—18 by 80—18 mm, yellow turning reddish brown, glochidiate hairs c. 3 mm long. Seeds 5.2—5.5 by 3.5—5 by 2.7—3.5 mm; aril red. Embryo ovoid, flattened, c. 4.3 by 3 mm.

    T h a i l a n d NORTHERN: Chiang Mai, Lampang; NORTH-EASTERN: Udon Thani; EASTERN: Chaiyaphum, Nakhon Ratchasima; CENTRAL: Saraburi; SOUTH-EASTERN: Prachin Buri, Chon Buri, Rayong, Chanthaburi, Trat; SOUTH-WESTERN: Kanchanaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan; PENINSULAR: Chumphon, Ranong, Surat Thani, Phangnga, Krabi, Phuket, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Trang, Songkhla, Satun, Narathiwat.

    D i s t r i b u t i o n Sri Lanka, India (type), Assam, Andaman Islands, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo.

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    E c o l o g y Often common, but scattered in (hilly) primary and secondary lowland forest, mixed Dipterocarp forest, coastal peat-swamp forest (kerangas), seasonally swampy forest, Schima-bamboo forest, along beaches and river banks, and in submontane scrubs; soil: yellow, brown or black sandy soil, sandy loam, sandstone, yellow clay, clay-loam, rocky coral, or granite. Altitude: sea level up to 500 m.

    V e r n a c u l a r Mak khwai (หมกค) (Nakhon Phanom); khi non (ี้) (Central); samphao () (Central, Chon Buri); chi (ี่), si (ี่) (Prachin Buri); sanan (นัน) (Trat); a kang (าง), ba-tu () (Malay-Narathiwat); dang khao (ดัง้า) (Phangnga); dang khao mao (ดัง้า่า) (Trang), ma uek khang (มะกค่าง) (Surat Thani); padang khao (ดัง) (Satun); khi non khao (ี้) (Peninsular).

    Uses In N.E. Malaysia (Kelantan and Trengganu) the young leaves are cooked and eaten as spinach or chopped up with rice. The wood is used as a non-construction timber by the Iban, Sarawak, Borneo; for building purposes in Sri Lanka, and for sampans and columns in Indochina. The wood is said to be light red, moderately hard, close-grained, pores small, scanty, in short radial lines, medullary rays very fine, very numerous, narrow wavy concentric bands fairly regular and prominent.