''Mallotus cumingii'' is a species of plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is native to Southeast Asia, occurring in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. It is a shrub or small tree growing to tall.

Distribution and habitat

The native range of ''M. cumingii'' includes the Philippines,

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

, and the Indonesian and Malaysian territories of the island of Borneo. It inhabits

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

s at altitudes of up to . It frequently occurs in damp places alongside rivers and streams.

Description

''M. cumingii'' is an evergreen shrub or small tree growing up to tall, with a

trunk diameter Trunk may refer to: Biology * Trunk (anatomy), synonym for torso * Trunk (botany), a tree's central superstructure * Trunk of corpus callosum, in neuroanatomy * Elephant trunk, the proboscis of an elephant Computing * Trunk (software), in revi ...

of up to . The outer bark is grey to brown in colour and may be smooth or wrinkled, sometimes peeling away in patches. The leaves are oval in shape, measuring by , and may be hairy or glabrous. The upper surface of the leaf is dark green and somewhat shiny with a paler underside. ''M. cumingii'' is

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

and the inflorescences are

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

s, produced singly or less commonly in a pair. Male plants produce inflorescences up to long, with sweet-scented white, cream, or yellowish flowers measuring up to in diameter and composed of 2–4 ovate sepals surrounding a cluster of 30–60

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s. Female plants produce inflorescences up to long, with faintly sweet-scented greenish flowers with a plumose stigma measuring long. The fruits are rounded indehiscent

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

s measuring by . The exterior of the fruit is smooth to slightly wrinkled, hairy, and speckled yellowish green to reddish brown when fresh, turning brown or dark grey when dry.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15361697 cumingii Flora of Borneo Flora of the Philippines Flora of Sulawesi Least concern plants Plants described in 1865 Taxa named by Johannes Müller Argoviensis