''Barringtonia asiatica'' (fish poison tree,
putat
[ or sea poison tree][) is a species of '']Barringtonia
''Barringtonia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lecythidaceae first described as a genus with this name in 1775. It is native to Africa, southern Asia, Australia, and various islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The genus nam ...
'' native to mangrove
A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...
habitats from islands of the Indian Ocean in the west to tropical Asia and islands of the western Pacific Ocean.[ It is grown along streets for decorative and shade purposes in some parts of India, for instance in some towns on the southeastern shore. It is also known as Box Fruit due to the distinct box-shaped fruit it produces.][ Accessed 2009-05-31.] The local name ''futu'' is the source of the name for the Polynesian island Futuna. The type specimen
In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...
was collected by botanist Pehr Osbeck
Pehr Osbeck (1723 – 23 December 1805) was a Swedish explorer, naturalist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. He was born in the parish of Hålanda on Västergötland and studied at Uppsala with Carolus Linnaeus.
Naturalist in Canton
In 1750†...
on a sandy beach area on the island of Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...
, later to be described (and given the original name of ''Mammea asiatica'') by Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...
in his '' Species Plantarum'' in 1753[ ''Mammea asiatica'' L. (the basionym to ''Barringtonia asiatica'') was originally described and published in ''Species Plantarum'' 1: 512–513. 1753. ] (and reassigned to the genus ''Barringtonia
''Barringtonia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lecythidaceae first described as a genus with this name in 1775. It is native to Africa, southern Asia, Australia, and various islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The genus nam ...
'' by Wilhelm Kurz in 1875).
Description
It is a small to medium-sized tree growing to 7–25 m tall. The leaves are narrow obovate, 20–40 cm in length and 10–20 cm in width. Fruit produced as mentioned earlier, is otherwise aptly known as the Box Fruit, due to distinct square like diagonals jutting out from the cross section of the fruit, given its semi spherical shape form from stem altering to a subpyramidal shape at its base. The fruit measures 9–11 cm in diameter, where a thick spongy fibrous layer covers the 4–5 cm diameter seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...
.[Flora of China]
''Barringtonia asiatica''
/ref>
Ecology
The fruit is dispersed in the same way as a coconut – by ocean current – and is extremely water-resistant and buoyant. It can survive afloat for up to fifteen years;[ it was one of the first plants to colonise ]Anak Krakatau
Anak Krakatoa ( id, Anak Krakatau)English translation and common name: ''Child of Krakatoa'' is a volcanic island in Indonesia. On 29 December 1927, Anak Krakatoa first emerged from the caldera formed in 1883 by the explosive volcanic eruption ...
when this island first appeared after the Krakatau
Krakatoa (), also transcribed (), is a caldera in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung. The caldera is part of a volcanic island group ( Krakatoa archipelago) comprising four islands. T ...
eruption.[ When washed ashore, and soaked by rainwater, the seeds germinate.
]
Human use
All parts of the tree are poisonous, the active poisons including saponins. Box fruits are potent enough to be used as a fish poison. The seeds are ground to a powder and used to stun or kill fish for easy capture,[ suffocating the fish while the flesh is unaffected.][Thaman, R.R.]
Receptors Batiri kei Baravi: The ethnobotany of the Pacific island coastal plants
." ''Atoll Research Bulletin.'' Vol. 361, 1-62. May, 1992. Accessed 2009-05-31.
Gallery
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q311468
asiatica
Flora of tropical Asia
Flora of the Pacific
Flora of the Western Indian Ocean
Trees of Taiwan
Flora of the Zanzibar Archipelago
Flora of Queensland
Ericales of Australia
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Flora of the Northern Territory
Taxa named by Wilhelm Sulpiz Kurz
Poisonous plants