Mackinlaya celebica
Content
Description
Shrub or small sparsely branched tree to 6 m.
Leaves very variable in size and complexity;
Inflorescence a terminal compound umbel, very variable in size, either entirely of male flowers or with male and hermaphrodite flowers, often overtopped by sym- podial growth;
Petals 5, obovate c. 1.5 mm long.
Ovary obconic, 1-2 mm long, narrowly turbinate in male flowers, ovoid and quickly swelling in female flowers.
Fruit up to 2.5 by 3 cm, compressed, rotund, constricted in the mid-axis, the two halves frequently unevenly developed.
Distribution
Aru Is present, Asia-Tropical: New Guinea present; Sulawesi (Sulawesi present), Central & S. Philippines present, New Britain present, Solomon Is present
Solomon Is.; in Malesia: New Guinea (incl. New Britain and Aru Is.), Celebes, and Central & S. Philippines.
Uses
Lane-Poole (l.c.) recorded that at Mt Obree leaves and flowers are cooked with coconut oil and put in armlets in dances.
Notes
The leaves have a strong parsley-like odour. The flowers are creamy white, and the fruits blue to purple with a glaucous bloom. Salt is said to be obtained from the ashes of the leaves.
Although collected frequently in the Philippines and New Guinea, this species is unrecorded for the Moluccas. There is considerable variation in the size of the leaves and of the inflorescence. A few New Guinea specimens are intermediate in character between this and the equally common M. schlechteri, and are interpreted as hybrids.
Although collected frequently in the Philippines and New Guinea, this species is unrecorded for the Moluccas. There is considerable variation in the size of the leaves and of the inflorescence. A few New Guinea specimens are intermediate in character between this and the equally common M. schlechteri, and are interpreted as hybrids.