''Goniothalamus malayanus'' is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

in the family

Annonaceae The Annonaceae are a family of flowering plants consisting of trees, shrubs, or rarely lianas commonly known as the custard apple family or soursop family. With 108 accepted genera and about 2400 known species, it is the largest family in the Ma ...

. It is native to

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

, the Malay Peninsula, the Nicobar Islands, Sumatra and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

Joseph Dalton Hooker Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For twenty years he served as director of ...

and

Thomas Thomson Thomas Thomson may refer to: * Tom Thomson (1877–1917), Canadian painter * Thomas Thomson (apothecary) (died 1572), Scottish apothecary * Thomas Thomson (advocate) (1768–1852), Scottish lawyer * Thomas Thomson (botanist) (1817–1878), Scottis ...

, the British botanists who first formally described the species, named it after part of its habitat range, British Malaya (now referred to as the Malay Peninsula).

Description

It is a tree reaching 15 meters in height. Its bark is finely wrinkled and light colored with parts covered in greenish-brown hair. Its oval to elliptical leaves are 12.5-28 by 3.5-9 centimeters with tips that come to a tapering point and bases that pointed or rounded. The leaves are paper to leathery. The upper surface of the leaves are somewhat shiny and hairless or sparsely hairy, while the underside is hairless and pale. Its leaves have 10-18 pairs of secondary veins emanating from their midribs. Its slightly hairy to hairy petioles are 5-14 by 1.5-3.3 millimeters. Its flowering

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

are 8-21 by 1-1.7 millimeters with dense yellow hairs. The pedicels are in axillary positions. Its green, oval to triangular sepals are 2-8 by 3–7.5 millimeters with margins that are fused at their base. The sepals come to a point at their tips. The inner surface of the sepals are densely hairy, while outer surface is hairless or slightly hairy. Its solitary flowers have 6 petals in two rows of three. The green-yellow, oval, outer petals are 1.6–6.2 × 0.7–3.2 centimeters. The inner surface of the outer petals are slightly to densely covered in small dark, silky hairs except near their base. The outer surface of the outer petals are densely hairy. The yellow to gold-colored inner petals are 0.77–1.4 × 0.4–0.75 centimeters and have a 1–2.6 millimeter wide

claw A claw is a curved, pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most amniotes (mammals, reptiles, birds). Some invertebrates such as beetles and spiders have somewhat similar fine, hooked structures at the end of the leg or tarsus ...

at their base. The inner petals are densely hairy on their outer surfaces, but hairless on their inner surfaces. Its flowers have 80-250 stamen that are 1.3-2 by 0.3-0.6 millimeters. The connective tissue between the lobes of the anther terminates abruptly at its apex and is hairy. Its flowers have 8-20 carpels with

ovaries The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the body. T ...

that are 1-1.6 by 0.3-0.7 millimeters. The ovaries are covered in dense rows of hair. Together the hairless style and stigma are 1.6-4.2 by 0.1-0.2 millimeters. Its dark red, ellipsoid, slightly hairy to hairy fruit are 1.6-4.0 by 0.8-1.7 centimeters with smooth surfaces. The fruit are attached to the pedicels by 2.5-10 by 1.2-2.7 millimeter stipes. Its fruit have 1-3 smooth, flattened, ellipsoid seeds that are 1.3-2.0 by 0.55-1.3 centimeters. The seeds are sparsely hairy with patches of long white or gold-colored hairs.

Reproductive biology

The pollen of ''G. malayanus '' is shed as permanent tetrads.

Habitat and distribution

It has been observed growing in lowland forests and the drier parts of peat swamp forests at altitudes of 1–400 meters.

Uses

Bioactive molecules extracted from its tissues have been reported to have

antibacterial An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention ...

activity in tests with

Gram positive In bacteriology, gram-positive bacteria are bacteria that give a positive result in the Gram stain test, which is traditionally used to quickly classify bacteria into two broad categories according to their type of cell wall. Gram-positive bact ...

and

Gram negative The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one one thousandth of a kilogram. Originally defined as of 1795 as "the absolute weight of a volume of pure water equal to th ...

bacteria.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15359243 malayanus Flora of the Nicobar Islands Flora of Borneo Flora of Malaya Flora of Sumatra Flora of Thailand Plants described in 1855 Taxa named by Joseph Dalton Hooker Taxa named by Thomas Thomson (botanist)