''Brownlowia emarginata'' is a slightly climbing tree, a member of the family Malvaceae. It occurs in Vietnam, Cambodia,

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

and Thailand. In southern Vietnam and Cambodia, ''B. emarginata'', usually a "slightly climbing" tree, sometimes a long

liana A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a ta ...

, occurs in deciduous dense forests. This treelet is found frequently as an understorey species in the Deciduous Dipterocarp Forest (canopy dominated by 5

Dipterocarpaceae Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus ''Dipterocarpus'', is derived from Greek (''di'' = two, ''pteron'' = wing and ''karpos'' = fru ...

species) occurring in small areas in the Phnom Kulen National Park, Siem Reap Province, Cambodia. It is recorded from Khong District in Champasak Province, southwestern Laos. The leaves of the tree are non- peltate, in common with only 14 other ''Brownlowia'' species in Southeast Asia. One of the vernacular names by which the plant is known is ''ach' sat ( Khmer, ="bird droppings", alluding to shape of the fruit), or ''archsatt''. The wood, reddish in colour, is valued highly for rafters, pillars, tool handles and other building uses in Cambodia. Charcoal made from the wood is excellent.

References

emarginata Flora of Cambodia Flora of Laos Flora of Thailand Flora of Vietnam Plants described in 1888 {{Malvaceae-stub