Elaeocarpus mastersii King, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 60(2): 139 (1891)
Named after Maxwell Tylden Masters [1833-1907], a British physician-botanist.Synonyms
Diagnostics
Shrub or small tree with small, alternately placed leaves and long petioles. Most parts glabrous.
Leaf margin slightly toothed, leaf with 5-8 pairs of secondary veins. Flowers in racemes, white.
Description
Shrub or tree, up to 20 m tall. The outer bark is light brown in colour, smooth, with few to
numerous fine lenticels. The Terminalia-like branches occur at irregular intervals. The petioles
are kneed at both ends. The leaves are simple, spirally-arranged, often clustered at the ends of
branches, leathery, glabrous, and with a toothed margin. The inflorescences are racemose, short,
to 4 cm long, with cream or white flowers. The small ovoid fruits are green when young and turn
bluish-green when mature. The single seed is enclosed within a hard, sculptured stone which
develops from the inner mesocarp. The tree can be easily spotted in the wild as its leaves often
turn red when old. [from Flora of Peninsular Malaysia Online]
Ecology
Fairly common in secondary forest as well as at the forest edge. Up to 1500 m elevation.
Uses
In Peninsular Malaysia, leaf poultices of E. mastersii are used to treat headache.
Distribution
Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo.
Local names
English: Small leaved oil tree.
