Baccaurea ramiflora Lour., Fl. Cochinch. 661 (1790)
Latin for 'flowers on branches'.Synonyms
Baccaurea cauliflora Lour.
Baccaurea flaccida Muell.Arg. in DC.
Baccaurea oxycarpa Gagnep.
Baccaurea pierardi Wall.
Baccaurea propinqua Muell.Arg. in DC.
Baccaurea sapida (Roxb.) Muell.Arg. in DC.
Baccaurea sylvestris auct. non Lour.
Baccaurea wrayi King ex Hook.f.
Pierardia flaccida Wall.
Pierardia sapida Roxb.
Gatnaia annamica Gagnep.
Description
Evergreen trees to 20 m tall, to 60 cm d.b.h.; stem gray-brown; branchlets hispid, glabrescent at maturity. Petiole 3-5 cm, glabrous;
leaf blade obovate-oblong, oblanceolate, or oblong, 9-15 by 3-8 cm, papery, green adaxially, yellowish green abaxially, glabrous on
both surfaces, base cuneate, margin entire or shallowly repand, apex shortly acuminate to acute; lateral veins 5-7 pairs, flattened above,
elevated below. Flowers small, dioecious, apetalous, many flowered, compound into racemelike panicles. Male inflorescences densely
papillose, often fascicled on branchlets as well as on trunk, to 15 cm; bracts ovate-lanceolate, 2-3 mm, chestnut-yellowish, puberulent
outside. Male flowers: sepals 4 or 5, oblong, 5-6 mm, puberulent outside; stamens 4-8; pistillode terete, bipartite. Female inflorescences
to 35 cm; bracts as in male. Female flowers: sepals 4-6, oblong-lanceolate, ca. 6 mm, puberulent outside; ovary ovoid or globose, 3-celled,
densely ferruginous hispid; styles very short, ca. 0.5 mm; stigma depressed, bifid at apex. Capsules baccate, ovoid or subglobose,
2-2.5 by 1.5-2 cm, red-yellow to purple when mature, indehiscent, or 3-valved when dry; arils white. Seeds flat-elliptic or rotund, 1-1.3 cm.
[from Flora of China]
Ecology
Primary rain forest and cultivated. Soil: sand, granite. Altitude up to 1700 m.
Uses
The fruits are edible; the pulpy, yellow aril is somewhat acid with an agreeable taste. The wood is used for furniture and cabinetwork.
Distribution
From India and southern China and Hainan into Indochina and Peninsular Malaysia.
Local names
Burma Kanaso.
China Mu nai guo.
Peninsular Malaysia Tampoi.
Thailand Mahphie.
