Archidendron microcarpum (Benth.) Nielsen, Adansonia ser. 2, 19, 1 (1979)
Latin for 'with small fruits'.Synonyms
Abarema microcarpa (Benth.) Kosterm.
Feuilleea microcarpa (Benth.) O.Kuntze
Pithecellobium microcarpum Benth.
Small, straight-boled tree to 22 m high, bole up to 10.5 m high, 39 cm in diameter. Occasionally with buttresses to 0.6 m high. Bark smooth, not fissured, but occasionally slightly cracked, grey, grey-green or greybrown; inner bark and cambium dark red or brownred exuding a whitish yellow latex after slashing, sapwood white or yellowish white, sometimes streaked with red. Branchlets terete, densely puberulous or shortly tomentose, brownish when young, later on reddish and scaly. Leaves: rachis 1-17 cm, tomentose, glands circular, often with raised central part, sessile or subsessile, 1-2 mm in diameter; pinnae 1-3 pairs, to 15 cm, puberulous or tomentose; petiolules to 5 mm, puberulous or tomentose; leaflets 1-4 pairs per pinna, opposite, chariaceous, drying brownish, usually somewhat unequal-sided, ovate elliptic, obovatc-elliptic, or lanceolate, (2.5-)5- 15 by (l-)3-7 cm, base symmetrically or asymmetrically broadly cuneate, or rounded, apex acuminate with obtuse tip; both surfaces glabrous but major veins occasionally scarcely puberulous; principal lateral veins 6-9 per leaflet-half, arching, non-parallel; reticulation prominulous above, prominent beneath. Inflorescences terminal, densely puberulous or tomentose, consisting of pedunculate glomerules aggregated into panicles to 30(-40) by 60 cm; glomerules composed of c. 3 shortly pedicellate flowers, pedicel 0.3-0.8 mm; floral bracts oblong, acute, c. 1 mm, densely puberulous. Flowers pentamerous, bisexual. Calyx green, shallowly cup-shaped or subrotate, c. 0.5 mm, sericeous; teeth hardly visible, deltoid, acute. Corolla white, yellowish-green or pale green, campanulate, 2.5-3 mm, finely sericeous especially in the distal part, lobes ovate-elliptic, acute, reflexed, 1-1.5 mm. Stamens white or yellowish green, c. 8-11 mm, the tube equalling the corolla-tube. Ovary solitary, scarcely sericeous. Pods: two kinds of pods usually present; sterile ones in the outer part of the infructescence, reddish to bright orange, densely contorted, puberulous or glabrous, c. 0.5 cm wide; fertile pods in the central part of the infructescence, reddish to bright orange outside, reddish orange within, contorted into a circle 2-3 cm in diameter, valves 0.5-1.5 cm wide, coriaceous, c. sinuate between the seeds, puberulous or glabrous, veins inconspicuous, dehiscing first along the ventral suture. Seeds black with a bluish bloom, ellipsoid, c. 7-8 by 6 mm. [from Flora Malesiana]
Ecology
Light primary and secondary rain forest, forest margins, along rivers, common on hillsides and
ridge-tops, also in swampy forest; soil: sandy, sandy loam, lateritic, black, or ultrabasic;
altitude 0-500(-1200 m).
Uses
Wood soft, white, only used locally for building purposes. The strong-smelling pods are
reported to be used for seasoning of food in Malaya. Shoots and roots are prescribed against itch.
The pounded leaves are used for rubbing the skin of patients suffering from smallpox.
Distribution
Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo.
Local names
Borneo: Balinag, Girik, Jaring burung, Jaring hutan, Jering, Langir hantu, Piling,
Tionggong.
