Nephelium maingayi
Content
Description
Tree, up to 40 m high, dbh up to 90 cm, sometimes with up to 1.40 m high buttresses.
Leaves 1-foliolate to 3(-5)-jugate;
Inflorescences axillary to terminal.
Sepals from less than halfway to nearly completely connate, 1-1.3 mm long.
Petals absent.
Stamens 4-6.
Ovary 1-celled, style lateral, with 1 stigma.
Fruits with a 2-3 mm long stipe, the body ± flattened-ellipsoid, 2-2.75 by 1.25-1.75 by 1-1.25 cm, style remnant a small point or hook just above the stipe, the surface variably warty, slightly puberulous around and especially beneath the style remnant, for the rest glabrous;
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: Borneo present; Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia present); Sumatera (Sumatera present)
Malesia: Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo.
Uses
The timber is good and is used for many purposes; the sarcotesta is edible but of no importance. See .
Notes
1. Nephelium maingayi is the most derived and distinctive species of the genus as far as the flower characters are concerned: a highly connate calyx, no petals, only 4-6 stamens, and a 1-celled pistil.
2. At first sight it seems possible to distinguish between two taxa, one characterized by rather broad, barely or not acuminate, coarsely reticulate leaflets, less than halfway connate calyx, annular and glabrous disc, and smooth fruits; the other by usually narrower, more distinctly acuminate leaflets with denser nerves and a finer reticulation, more than halfway connate calyx, disc consisting of mostly hairy knobs between the stamens, and warty fruits. Furthermore, in Borneo the first kind has more often 1-jugate, the latter 2-3-jugate leaves. However, the characters are not really well correlated, and the two taxa are not sharply delimitated; there is also no correlation with ecology or geography.
2. At first sight it seems possible to distinguish between two taxa, one characterized by rather broad, barely or not acuminate, coarsely reticulate leaflets, less than halfway connate calyx, annular and glabrous disc, and smooth fruits; the other by usually narrower, more distinctly acuminate leaflets with denser nerves and a finer reticulation, more than halfway connate calyx, disc consisting of mostly hairy knobs between the stamens, and warty fruits. Furthermore, in Borneo the first kind has more often 1-jugate, the latter 2-3-jugate leaves. However, the characters are not really well correlated, and the two taxa are not sharply delimitated; there is also no correlation with ecology or geography.