Glochidion sericeum (Blume) Zoll. & Mor., Nat. Geneesk. Arch. Neerl. Ind. 2 (1845)

Synonyms
Diasperus sericeus (Blume) Kuntze
Glochidionopsis sericea Blume
Phyllanthus sericeus (Blume) Mull.Arg.

Diagnostics
Shrub up to 8 m tall and 14 cm dbh. Stipules 1.5 mm long. Leaves alternate, simple, penni-veined, hairy below, whitish below. Flowers ca. 2.5 mm diameter, white-yellowish, placed in axillary bundles. Fruits ca. 3 mm long, pink-red, dehiscent, densely hairy capsules, seeds with red arils.

Description
Shrubs to treelets up to 8 m high; flowering twigs c. 2 mm thick; mainly sericeous all over. Leaves: stipules triangular to ovate, 1-1.9 by c. 1 mm, late caducous; petiole 2.5-3 mm long; blade ovately elliptic, 1.2-9 by 0.8-3.4 cm, length/width ratio 1.5-2.5, papery, base often somewhat oblique, very slightly emarginate to truncate, margin, flat, apex bluntly acute to bluntly acuminate, upper surface subsericeous, lower surface sericeous, venation flat above, raised underneath, nerves c. 10 per side, veins scalariformly reticulate. Inflorescences fascicles with a few staminate and pistillate flowers (up to c. 5). Flowers whitish. Staminate flowers 3.3-3.5 mm in diameter, pedicel 3-3.5(-5.5) mm long, hairy; sepals 6, free, elliptic, outer ones 1.9-2 by c. 0.8 mm, inner ones 1.5-1.8 by c. 0.7 mm; stamens 3, androecium c. 0.7 mm long, c. 0.5 mm long, connective teeth 0.1-0.2 mm long. Pistillate flowers 1.2-5 mm in diameter; pedicel absent when young to up to 7 mm in fruit; sepals 2, ovate, smaller one 1.8-2.4 by 1.2-1.6 mm, larger one 2.1-2.6 by 1.6-1.9 mm; ovary 3-locular, 1-3 by 0.4-2 mm high; stigmas free except sometimes for small basal part, 2-2.5 mm long, very slender, line-like, apically very shortly split. Fruits round, flattened, depressed above in centre, somewhat lobed around locules, sutures indistinct, green with white velvety hairs, valves opening basally; wall very thin; column 1.2-2.3 by 1-2 mm, only basal triangle left. Seeds c. 3 by 3 by 2 mm, bright red. [from Flora Malesiana]

Ecology
Usually on disturbed sites (scrub, roadsides, riversides, forest edges) in mixed dipterocarp, keranga, peat swamp and sub-montane forests up to 1400 m altitude. Mostly on alluvial sites, but also on hillsides with sandy soils.

Distribution
Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Philippines.

Local names
Borneo: Manyam, Nyam.
Thailand: Khrai tai (Peninsular).