''Mallotus plicatus'' is a tree or shrub in the

Euphorbiaceae Euphorbiaceae, the spurge family, is a large family of flowering plants. In English, they are also commonly called euphorbias, which is also the name of a genus in the family. Most spurges, such as '' Euphorbia paralias'', are herbs, but some, ...

family, in the ''Polyadenii''

section Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

. It occurs in much of Mainland Southeast Asia. It is used for dyeing and in construction.

Description, habitat

A tree or shrub, growing from 5 to 15m tall. The twigs can be flattened or round at nodes. The leaves are alternate with the majority pseudo-opposite, terminally grouped, not peltate and in the leaf pairs are unequal but the same shape, the reduced leaves have petioles. Leaves are more than twice as long as they are wide. The base of the leaves can be oblique or not, triple-veined/palmate and flat. The leaves are odourless. Dried leaves are brownish. Glands are clavately shaped. The leaf margin is dentate to serrate, and has glands. The leaf apex is acute. Upper surface of the leaf is glabrous, basally has more than 2 macular glands. Indument simple and stellate, on the petioles the induments are short (<1mm) and dense. The ovate stipules are early caducous, not interpetiolar, with a length less than 4 times the width and a margin with short hairs less than 1mm. The petioles lack an adaxial groove and glands, are 1–5 cm in length, are apically pulvinate, when dried the petioles are basally not constricted. The fruit are smooth, indehiscent, 3-locular, with winged carpels, seeds are caducous, brownish with a smooth coat.

Habitat

The tree occurs commonly in evergreen and mixed deciduous forests and forest edges, and on river banks. It grows at altitude from 40 to 150m. Flowering occurs from May to September, while fruit occurs from May to July. In Cambodia the species is described occurring in secondary formations and particularly abundant along river and in flooded forests of the

Tonlé Sap Tonlé Sap (; km, ទន្លេសាប, ; or commonly translated as 'Great Lake'; vi, Biển Hồ, Chữ Hán: 湖海/壺海) is a lake in the northwest of Cambodia. It belongs to the Mekong River system. It is the largest freshwater l ...

region of Cambodia.

Distribution

The species occurs in the following countries of Mainland Southeast Asia:

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 ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, Laos, and

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. There is some doubt of its presence in

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...

Vernacular names

In Khmer the plant is variously known as ''chumpu:'', ''chrolu:ëk préi'', ''chhkaèng'' or ''chrâkaéng tûëy''.

Uses

The bark of ''Mallotus plicatus'' is used to obtain a dye, while the wood is valued as a construction timber. The bark contains compounds that shows some inhibitory activity against ''

Herpes simplex Herpes simplex is a viral infection caused by the herpes simplex virus. Infections are categorized based on the part of the body infected. Oral herpes involves the face or mouth. It may result in small blisters in groups often called col ...

''.

History

Herbert Kenneth Airy Shaw Herbert Kenneth Airy Shaw (7 April 1902 – 1985) was a notable English botanist and classicist. Airy Shaw was born at The Mount, Grange Road, Woodbridge, Suffolk to a father serving as Second Master at the Woodbridge Grammar School and a mother ...

(1902–85), an English botanist, described the species in 1962, in the

Kew Bulletin The ''Kew Bulletin'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal on plant and fungal taxonomy and conservation published by Springer Science+Business Media on behalf of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Articles on palynology, cytology, anatomy, ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15362158 plicatus Flora of Indo-China Plants described in 1962