Chydenanthus excelsus
Content
Description
Trees, up to 30 m high, c. 50 cm diam.
Bark smooth, greyish brown.
Branchlets up to 5 mm thick, greyish brown or brown, striate, lenticellate.
Leaves:
Inflorescences up to 18 cm long;
Petals obovate, c. 3 by 1.5 cm, apex rounded, veined, thinly papyraceous, membranaceous at the margin, greenish white when fresh, dark brown when dry, pulverulent to pubescent outside (in bud).
Stamens:
Fruits bluntly quadrangular, elongate ellipsoid or obovoid, c. 12 by 6 cm, lenticellate or warty, puberulous;
Seeds ellipsoid.
Uses
The wood of this species is of little economic value. It is strong but not very durable; the specific gravity is 0.66. The bark is fatally poisonous (Greshoff 1893). Seeds contain chydenantine, a glycoside (Duyster 1923), and according to Van Dongen (1913) they can be used as a fish poison and a medicine against diarrhoea. The phytochemical and pharmacological properties of this species are amply given by Boorsma (1908) and Duyster (1923).
Notes
1. Chydenanthus is characterized by its panicled inflorescence, ascendent ovules, and pubescent flowers, differing from Barringtonia in these characters. Another feature is the presence of minute, subulate and caducous stipules (or sometimes reduced to dots) at the base of the petioles, which are usually discernable in very young leaves. The genus, like most Barringtonia species, has 1-seeded fruit. The entire seed is an embryo, consisting of the inner and outer parts, which on cross section are separated by a concentric woody ring. The seed has no cotyledons, and when germinating the plumule emerges from one end and the radicle from the other, i.e. the Barringtonia type germination (e.g., ). The development of the embryo was amply described by Treub ().
2. The monotypic genus Chydenanthus was established by Miers in 1875. A second species, C. dentato-serratus appeared to be a synonym of Barringtonia acutangula subsp. spicata (see there).
2. The monotypic genus Chydenanthus was established by Miers in 1875. A second species, C. dentato-serratus appeared to be a synonym of Barringtonia acutangula subsp. spicata (see there).
Citation
Koord. & Valeton 1900 – In: Meded. Dept. Landb. Ned.-Indië: 20
Greshoff 1898 – In: Meded. Lands Plantentuin: 117
Janssonius 1914 – In: Mikrogr. Holzer Java: 502
Blume 1851 – In: Van Houtte, Fl. Serres 7: 24
Treub 1884: p. 101. – In: Ann. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg: t. 8
Boorsma 1908 – In: Bull. Dépt. Agric. Indes Néerl.: 10
Müll.Berol. 1857 – In: Walp., Ann. Bot. Syst. 4: 852
Koord. 1912 – In: Exkurs.-Fl. Java: 666
Airy Shaw 1949 – In: Kew Bull.: 152
Müll.Berol. 1857 – In: Walp., Ann. Bot. Syst. 4: 854
Backer & Bakh.f. 1965 – In: Fl. Java: 353
Janssonius 1952: Key Java Woods: 84
Miers 1940: Anat. Bestimm. Java Holzer: 81
Greshoff 1898 – In: Meded. Lands Plantentuin: 82
R.Knuth 1939: p. 56. – In: Engl., Pflanzenr. 219: f. 12
Miq. 1855 – In: Fl. Ned. Ind.: 491
Van Dongen 1913 – In: Pharm. Weekbl. Ned.: 446
Kuswata 1982: p. 27. – In: Reinwardtia: f. 1-3
Nied. 1898 – In: Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 3: 33
Miers 1913 – In: Meded. Dept. Landb. Ned.-Indië: 118
Duyster 1923 – In: Pharm. Weekbl. Ned.: 777
Teijsm. & Binn. 1855 – In: Ned. Kruidk. Arch.: 411
Miq. 1855 – In: Fl. Ned. Ind.: 491
Grevelink 1883: Pl. Ned.-Indië: 159
Nied. 1898 – In: Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 3: 3
Miers 1913: Commun. Dept. Agric. Res. Roy. Trop. Inst.: 123
K.Heyne 1950 – In: Nutt. Pl. Ned.-Ind., ed. 3: 1161