Stichoneuron caudatum
Content
Description
Slender, erect herbs, up to 60 cm, with few branches;
Leaves alternate;
Inflorescence few- or densely-flowered, with mosdy one or two flowers in anthesis;
Flowers 6-8 mm in diameter (but see note);
Stamens 1.5-2.5 mm long;
Ovary and style minute.
Fruit with thin pericarp, slighdy flattened, slighdy curved, 11-19 by 4-6 mm, the top caudate for a few millimetres, green;
Seeds 1 or 2, broad-ellipsoid, sharply ridged lengthwise, 5-7 mm long;
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia present); Thailand (Thailand present)
Thailand; in Malesia: Malay Peninsula.
Uses
The leaves of this species are eaten with betel as a tonic in convalescence; the Malay name 'kayu mati hidup' or 'expectation of death'-tree, suggests an abortifacient ().
Notes
Herbarium material often lacks flowers, whereas fruits are known from a few collections only; the description of the fruit and seed is after Van Steenis (I.e., who obtained the data from Dr. R.E. Holttum), and from Bogner 1789 (culta).
The following description of the flower is based on living material, provided by J. Bogner, Mun-chen: Perianth c. 6 mm long, c. 12 mm in diameter; tepals acute to acuminate, spreading, margins recurved, dirty white, the outside sparsely hairy, the inside densely set with white or carmine hairs. Stamens c. 2 mm long, filaments white, short and thick, densely beset with white or carmine hairs, anthers free, yellow, without a conspicuous con-nectivum (see also ).
Living material testifies that the petiole bases are slightly sheathing, a feature not easily seen in dried material.
Henderson (SFN 29662) noted that the species forms an almost pure stand as undergrowth in river-bank forest along the Gua Musang R. (Kelantan).
The flowers are rather variable: tepals may be acute or provided with a filiform appendix, the filaments and inside of tepals are densely hairy, papillose, or glabrous. The species is obviously closely related to S. membranaceum Hook. f., known only from a few collections in eastern India (Khasia).
All flowers seem to be hermaphroditic (but it is possible that they are functionally female or male). Field research is needed to explain the scantiness of well-developed ovaries and fruits in herbaria, suggesting poor fertility in the natural conditions.
The following description of the flower is based on living material, provided by J. Bogner, Mun-chen: Perianth c. 6 mm long, c. 12 mm in diameter; tepals acute to acuminate, spreading, margins recurved, dirty white, the outside sparsely hairy, the inside densely set with white or carmine hairs. Stamens c. 2 mm long, filaments white, short and thick, densely beset with white or carmine hairs, anthers free, yellow, without a conspicuous con-nectivum (see also ).
Living material testifies that the petiole bases are slightly sheathing, a feature not easily seen in dried material.
Henderson (SFN 29662) noted that the species forms an almost pure stand as undergrowth in river-bank forest along the Gua Musang R. (Kelantan).
The flowers are rather variable: tepals may be acute or provided with a filiform appendix, the filaments and inside of tepals are densely hairy, papillose, or glabrous. The species is obviously closely related to S. membranaceum Hook. f., known only from a few collections in eastern India (Khasia).
All flowers seem to be hermaphroditic (but it is possible that they are functionally female or male). Field research is needed to explain the scantiness of well-developed ovaries and fruits in herbaria, suggesting poor fertility in the natural conditions.