Aporosa villosa

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Aporosa villosa
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Phyllanthaceae
Genus: Aporosa
Species:
A. villosa
Binomial name
Aporosa villosa
Synonyms [1]
  • Aporosa sphaerosperma Gagnep.
  • Lepidostachys villosa Wall.
  • Scepa villosaLindl.

Aporosa villosa is a species of shrub or small tree in the family Phyllanthaceae. It is found in Southeast Asia, including the Nicobar, Andaman and Paracel Islands. There are some traditional medicinal uses for plant, particularly around care after childbirth. The shrub is often a pioneer species, tolerant of full sun, but intolerant of frequent fires.

Contents

Description

This grows as a shrub, or small tree, up to 15m tall and 15 cm in diameter, sometimes deciduous. [2] Black to light-brown bark with vertical cracks or grooves. Densely tomentose young branches. Ovate to elliptic leaves some 8.5-30 x 6–12.5 cm in size, with a slightly cordate to rounded base, small hairy basal glands, (lowly) glandular-crenate to lowly glandular-serrate margin with regular distinct blackish marginal glands. The leaves have an acute to acuminate apex, the sometimes brittle, thickish blade which when dry is corrugate-reticulate on the upper surface while the lower surface is smooth. The upper surface of the leaves dry to a greyish- to greenish-brown, occasionally bluish-green, while the lower surface dries to reddish brown.

Distinguishing traits include: the branchlets often have thick scars of fallen leaves; the leaf shape, margins and base. However Schot warns that only the extreme forms of A. villosa leaves are really distinct, otherwise intermediates occur between this species and Aporosa octandra .

Like other species in the Appendiculatae section of the Aporosa genus, this species has: glands that are basal and adaxial; disc-like glands scattered unevenly within arches of marginal veins throughout the abaxial surface of the leaf/lamina; stigma that are papillate; and the ovary has pubescent septae and column. [3]

Taxonomy and history

A. villosa is in a clade with sisters Aporosa ficifolia , Aporosa octandra , A. planchoniana , and A. tetrapleura , separated from other species within the Appendiculatae section of the Aporosa genus. [3]

The species was described in 1858 by Henri Ernest Baillon (1827–95), a French botanist, physician, and member of the Légion d'honneur. He published the description in his work Etude Générale du Groupe de Euphorbiacées. [4]

Distribution

The species is native to Mainland Southeast Asia. [1] Countries and regions in which it grows include: Thailand; Cambodia; Vietnam; Laos; Myanmar; and India (Nicobar Islands, Andaman Islands). It grows on the disputed Dong Dao Island in the South China Sea. [5] It has been recorded in error from Zhōngguó/China. [1]

Habitat and ecology

The tree can germinate under full sunlight, and is a pioneer species of early successional stages, it is spread by humans and birds. [6]

Frequent burning (7 or more fires in 10 years) occur in many places in the dry dipterocarp forest of the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary (northwestern Thailand). [7] In these frequently burnt areas A. villosa is absent, yet it is common in areas with a less frequent burning regime.

Trees identified in a plot at Salawin Wildlife Sanctuary (Mae Hong Son Province, northwestern Thailand) were Anneslea fragrans , A. villosa, Craibiodendron stellatum , Dillenia sp., Gardenia sootepensis , Gluta usitata , Quercus sp., Shorea obtusa , Tristaniopsis burmanica var. rufescens. and Vaccinium sprengelii . [8] Of these ten species only one did not have bark covered densely with bryophytes or lichen, this was A. villosa, which had consistently naked bark, it was the only tree that was not a host for the orchid Dendrobium scabrilingue.

The tree is one of four dominant species ( Scaevola sericea , Messerschmidia argentea , Guettarda speciosa , A. villosa) growing on the sand barriers of Dong Dao Island, South China Sea. [5]

The species has been identified as a host of the leaf-spot/lesion-causing sac-fungus (Mycosphaerellaceae family) Zasmidium aporosae in Laos. [9]

Vernacular names

Uses

Villagers living on the plateau of Phnom Kulen National Park, in Svay Leu District, Siem Reap Province, northwestern Cambodia, use parts of the shrub in their traditional medicinal practices. [10] The wood chips and root, either alone or in different mixtures with other species, are made into decoctions to drink as part of post-childbirth care, while a mixture of the 2 plant parts, together with root/woodchips of Prismatomeris tetrandra , and the wood chips of Melastoma sp., Rhodomytrus sp. puach toich, and Rhodomyrtus tomentosa is decocted and drunk to encourage lactation.

The Bunong people of Mondulkiri Province, northeastern Cambodia, use the leaves and bark of the plant to treat a variety of illnesses. [11] The leaves are decocted in water then drunk, applied to the stomach, bathed in or used in a steam-bath, macerated in alcohol and drunk, or made into a decocted mixture with the leaves of Ageratum conyzoides , Blumea balsamifera , Chromolaena odorata and Melicope pteleifolia and used in a steam-bath. In one treatment to strengthen the body after childbirth the leaves and wood of the species are boiled together and then drunk or applied to the body.

Further reading

Related Research Articles

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Antidesma is a genus of tropical plant in the family Phyllanthaceae formally described by Linnaeus in 1753. It is native to tropical Africa, S + E + SE Asia, Australia, and various oceanic islands. The greatest diversity occurs in Southeast Asia.

Balakata is a genus of trees in the family Euphorbiaceae first described as a genus in 1999. It is native to Southeast Asia, southern China, the Himalayas, and New Guinea. The genus name was inspired by balákat-gúbat ("shoulder-tree"), the Philippine common name for B. luzonica.

<i>Aporosa</i> Genus of flowering plants

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<i>Bridelia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Bridelia is a plant genus of the family Phyllanthaceae first described as a genus in 1806. It is widespread across Africa, Australia, southern Asia, and various islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

<i>Breynia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Breynia is a genus in the flowering plant family Phyllanthaceae, first described in 1776. It is native to Southeast Asia, China, Réunion, the Indian Subcontinent, Papuasia and Australia.

<i>Aglaia edulis</i> Species of tree in Meliaceae family from tropical Asia

Aglaia edulis is a tree species of plant in the family Meliaceae. It occurs in Tropical Asia from India to Yunnan and South-Central China. The wood and timber are used for various purposes.

<i>Antidesma acidum</i> Species of plant in the Phyllanthaceae family

Antidesma acidum is a shrub or small tree that is native to an area from Jawa to south-central China and Pakistan. It is a long-lived, shade-tolerant species that is usually found under closed-canopy. The fruit is eaten in many places, the leaves in some locations. In Luang Prabang (Laos) open-air markets, the leaves are only sold alongside Russula mushrooms, to give a sour flavour to soup made from the fungi.

<i>Antidesma ghaesembilla</i> Species of plant in Phyllanthaceae family

Antidesma ghaesembilla is a species of plant in the Phyllanthaceae family. It is native to an area from northern Australia to the Philippines, China, and west to India. The shrub or tree usually grows in moist soils in plant communities ranging from savannah to gallery forest to closed forest. It is associated with a number of species of fungus, insects and animals, including emus. Amongst the Mangarrayi and Yangman people of north Australia, the sweet ripe fruit of the tree are much appreciated and linked to the build-up season and to the koel. As well as food, the plant is used as a calendar-plant, for dyeing, in traditional medicine, in religious/magical practices, as fuel, and as an insecticide.

<i>Actephila excelsa</i> Species of plant in the Phyllanthaceae family

Actephila excelsa is a species of shrub in the family Phyllanthaceae. It is native to an area in Tropical Asia and Zhōngguó/China, from Sulawesi to India and Guangxi. It is a highly variable species and leaf forms vary across adjacent ecozones. The plant is used in building houses and as a vegetable. Grey-shanked douc langurs eat the leaves.

Ziziphus cambodiana is a deciduous thorny shrub, or vine, some 2–6 m tall, found growing in secondary undergrowth in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, and northern Thailand.

<i>Dillenia pentagyna</i> Species of flowering plant

A small tree with tortuous twigs, Dillenia pentagyna is a member of the family Dilleniaceae, and is found from Sulawesi to South-Central China to India and Sri Lanka. Material from the tree has some minor uses.

<i>Mallotus repandus</i> Species of plant in the family Euphorbiaceae

Mallotus repandus, known in Australia as the climbing mallotus, is a species of plant in the spurge family Euphorbiaceae. It is native to the Indian subcontinent, mainland Southeast Asia, Malesia, New Guinea, Queensland, New Caledonia and Vanuatu.

Aporosa ficifolia is a species of shrub in the family Phyllanthaceae. It grows 2-8m tall, it has a restricted habitat, growing in lowland open or pine forests up to 700m elevation.

Aporosa planchoniana is a species of shrub in the family Phyllanthaceae.

Mallotus plicatus is a tree or shrub in the Euphorbiaceae family, in the Polyadenii section. It occurs in much of Mainland Southeast Asia. It is used for dyeing and in construction.

Mallotus floribundus is a tree in the family Euphorbiaceae, in the Stylanthus section, native to Southeast Asia, Wallaceae, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Memecylon caeruleum is a shrub or tree species in the Melastomataceae family. It is found from New Guinea, west through Southeast Asia to Tibet, Zhōngguó/China. It has become an invasive weed in the Seychelles. It has some local use for wood and food.

Strychnos nux-blanda is a shrub or small tree in the Loganiaceae family. It is native to Southeast Asia and Assam. The wood is used as fuel; seeds are toxic, but used in folk-medicine. It is one of the plants featured in the garden of King Narai (1633–88) at Lopburi, Thailand.

<i>Aporosa octandra</i> Tree species

Aporosa octandra is a species of plant in the family Phyllanthaceae found from Queensland and New Guinea to Indonesia, Zhōngguó/China and India. It is a highly variable plant with 4 named varieties. Its wood is used in construction and to make implements, its fruit is edible. The Karbi people of Assam use the plant for dyeing, textile colours have quite some significance in their culture.

Aporosa tetrapleura is a species of plant in the family Phyllanthaceae found in Cambodia and Vietnam. The wood is used in house and cattle barn construction and as firewood.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Aporosa villosa (Lindl.) Baill". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  2. ↑ Schot, Anne Marketta (2004). Systematics of Aporosa (Euphorbiaceae) (PDF). Netherlands: PhD thesis, Universiteit Leiden. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  3. 1 2 Shuichiro Tagane; Van Son Dang; Hironori Toyama; Akiyo Naiki; Hidetoshi Nagamasu; Tetsukazu Yahara; Hop Tran (2015). "Aporosa tetragona Tagane & V. S. Dang (Phyllanthaceae), a new species from Mt. Hon Ba, Vietnam". PhytoKeys (57): 51–60. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.57.6347 . PMC   4698514 . PMID   26752961.
  4. ↑ "Aporosa villosa Baill., Étude Euphorb. 645 (1858)". International Plant Name Index (IPNI). The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  5. 1 2 Liu, Xiaodong (2008). "A 1,100-year palaeoenvironmental record inferred from stable isotope and trace element compositions of ostracode and plant caryopses in sediments of Cattle Pond, Dongdao Island, South China Sea". J Paleolimnol. 40 (4): 987–1002. Bibcode:2008JPall..40..987L. doi:10.1007/s10933-008-9211-9. S2CID   129797904 . Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  6. ↑ Junsongduang, Auemporn; with four others (2014). "Woody Plant Diversity in Sacred Forests and Fallows in Chiang Mai, Thailand". Chiang Mai J. Sci. 41 (5.1): 1132–1149. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  7. ↑ Wanthongchai, Kobsak; Bauhus, Jürgen; Goldammer, Johann G. (2014). "Effects of Past Burning Frequency on Woody Plant Structure and Composition in Dry Dipterocarp Forest". Thai J. For. 33 (3): 109–130. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  8. ↑ Watthana, Santi; Pedersen, Henrik Ærenlund (2008). "Phorophyte Diversity, Substrate Requirements and Fruit Set in Dendrobium scabrilingue Lindl. (Asparagales: Orchidaceae): Basic Observations for Re-introduction Experiments". The Natural History Journal of Chulalongkorn University. 8 (2, October): 135–142. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  9. ↑ Phengsintham, Pheng; Hyde, Kevin D.; Braun, Uwe (2009). "Cercospora and allied genera from Laos – 1: Notes on Zasmidium (Stenella s. lat.)" (PDF). Cryptogamie, Mycologie. 30 (3): 243–262. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  10. ↑ Walker, Taylor J. (26 April 2017). An examination of medicinal ethnobotany and biomedicine use in two villages on the Phnom Kulen plateau (Report). Roanoke, United States: Undergraduate Research Awards, Hollins University. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  11. ↑ Chassagne, François; Hul, Sovanmoly; Deharo, Eric; Bourdy, Geneviève (2016). "Natural remedies used by Bunong people in Mondulkiri province (NortheastCambodia) with special reference to the treatment of 11 most common ailments". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 191: 41–70. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2016.06.003 . Retrieved 2 March 2021.
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